1 O h, that my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

2 O h, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers; they are a gang of treacherous men.

3 A nd they bend their tongue, their bow for the lies. And not according to faithfulness do they rule and become strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me, says the Lord.

4 L et everyone beware of his neighbor and put no trust in any brother. For every brother is an utter and complete supplanter (one who takes by the heel and trips up, a deceiver, a Jacob), and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

5 A nd they deceive and mock every one his neighbor and do not speak the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.

6 Y our habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know and understand Me, says the Lord.

7 T herefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?

8 T heir tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaks deceitfully; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays snares and waits in ambush for him.

9 S hall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

10 F or the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing and for the pastures of the wilderness a lament, because they are burned up and desolated, so that no one passes through; neither can men hear the lowing of cattle. Both the fowls of the air and the beasts have fled, they are gone!

11 I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

12 W ho is the wise man who may understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through it?

13 A nd the Lord says, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to and obeyed My voice or walked in accordance with it

14 B ut have walked stubbornly after their own hearts and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,

15 T herefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink.

16 I will scatter them also among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword among them and after them until I have consumed them.

17 T hus says the Lord of hosts: Consider and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come.

18 L et them make haste and raise a wailing over us and for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water.

19 F or a sound of wailing is heard out of Zion: How we are plundered and ruined! We are greatly confounded and utterly put to shame, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

20 Y et hear the word of the Lord, O you women, and let your ears receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters a lament, and each one her neighbor a dirge.

21 F or death has come up into our windows; it has entered into our palaces, cutting off the children from outdoors and the young men from the streets.

22 S peak, Thus says the Lord: The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung on the open field and like sheaves behind the reaper, and none shall gather them.

23 T hus says the Lord: Let not the wise and skillful person glory and boast in his wisdom and skill; let not the mighty and powerful person glory and boast in his strength and power; let not the person who is rich glory and boast in his riches;

24 B ut let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, Who practices loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.

25 B ehold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all who though circumcised are still uncircumcised —

26 E gypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who live in the desert and who clip off the corners of their hair and beards; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.