1 If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!2 If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men.3 Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.4 Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil.5 Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.6 There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.7 So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.8 His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.9 Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?10 Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.11 And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.12 Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?13 And the Lord said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it;14 But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching.15 So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.16 And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.17 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:18 Let them quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming with water.19 For a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house.20 But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.21 For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places.22 The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.23 This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:24 But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.25 See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh;26 On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.

1 [Quis dabit capiti meo aquam,et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum,et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos fili populi mei ?2 Quis dabit me in solitudine diversorium viatorum,et derelinquam populum meum,et recedam ab eis ?quia omnes adulteri sunt,ctus prvaricatorum.3 Et extenderunt linguam suamquasi arcum mendacii et non veritatis :confortati sunt in terra,quia de malo ad malum egressi sunt,et me non cognoverunt, dicit Dominus.4 Unusquisque se a proximo suo custodiat,et in omni fratre suo non habeat fiduciam :quia omnis frater supplantans supplantabit,et omnis amicus fraudulenter incedet.5 Et vir fratrem suum deridebit,et veritatem non loquentur :docuerunt enim linguam suam loqui mendacium ;ut inique agerent laboraverunt.6 Habitatio tua in medio doli :in dolo renuerunt scire me, dicit Dominus.7 Propterea hc dicit Dominus exercituum :Ecce ego conflabo, et probabo eos :quid enim aliud faciam a facie fili populi mei ?8 Sagitta vulnerans lingua eorum,dolum locuta est.In ore suo pacem cum amico suo loquitur,et occulte ponit ei insidias.9 Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus,aut in gente hujusmodi non ulciscetur anima mea ?10 Super montes assumam fletum ac lamentum,et super speciosa deserti planctum,quoniam incensa sunt, eo quod non sit vir pertransiens,et non audierunt vocem possidentis :a volucre cli usque ad pecora transmigraverunt et recesserunt.11 Et dabo Jerusalem in acervos aren,et cubilia draconum :et civitates Juda dabo in desolationem,eo quod non sit habitator.12 Quis est vir sapiens qui intelligat hoc,et ad quem verbum oris Domini fiat, ut annuntiet istud,quare perierit terra, et exusta sit quasi desertum,eo quod non sit qui pertranseat ?13 Et dixit Dominus :Quia dereliquerunt legem meam quam dedi eis,et non audierunt vocem meam,et non ambulaverunt in ea,14 et abierunt post pravitatem cordis sui,et post Baalim, quod didicerunt a patribus suis :15 idcirco hc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Isral :Ecce ego cibabo populum istum absinthio,et potum dabo eis aquam fellis.16 Et dispergam eos in gentibusquas non noverunt ipsi et patres eorum,et mittam post eos gladium,donec consumantur.17 Hc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Isral :Contemplamini, et vocate lamentatrices, et veniant :et ad eas qu sapientes sunt mittite, et properent :18 festinent, et assumant super nos lamentum :deducant oculi nostri lacrimas,et palpebr nostr defluant aquis.19 Quia vox lamentationis audita est de Sion :Quomodo vastati sumus,et confusi vehementer ?quia dereliquimus terram ;quoniam dejecta sunt tabernacula nostra.20 Audite ergo, mulieres, verbum Domini,et assumant aures vestr sermonem oris ejus,et docete filias vestras lamentum,et unaquque proximam suam planctum :21 quia ascendit mors per fenestras nostras ;ingressa est domos nostras,disperdere parvulos deforis,juvenes de plateis.] 22 Loquere : [Hc dicit Dominus :Et cadet morticinum hominisquasi stercus super faciem regionis,et quasi fnum post tergum metentis,et non est qui colligat.23 Hc dicit Dominus :Non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua,et non glorietur fortis in fortitudine sua,et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis :24 sed in hoc glorietur, qui gloriatur,scire et nosse me,quia ego sum Dominus qui facio misericordiam,et judicium, et justitiam in terra :hc enim placent mihi, ait Dominus.25 Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus,et visitabo super omnem qui circumcisum habet prputium,26 super gyptum, et super Juda, et super Edom,et super filios Ammon, et super Moab ;et super omnes qui attonsi sunt in comam,habitantes in deserto :quia omnes gentes habent prputium,omnis autem domus Isral incircumcisi sunt corde.]