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

2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of betraying men.

3 And they arm their tongues, [as] their bows, with falsehood; and it is not for loyalty that they are strong: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.

4 Take{+} heed every one of his fellow man, and don't trust{+} in any brother; for every brother will completely supplant, and every fellow man will go about with slanders.

5 And they will deceive every one his fellow man, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, perversion; they are unable to come back.

6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit; they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

7 Therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, Look, I will melt them, and try them; for what [else] should I do, because [it is] of the daughter of my people?

8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: with his mouth one speaks peaceably to his fellow man, but in his heart he lays wait for him.

9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; will not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 For the mountains I will lift: a weeping and a wailing; and for the pastures of the wilderness: a lamentation; because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled, they are gone.

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

12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And [who is] he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?

13 And Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and haven't obeyed my voice, neither walked in it,

14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;

15 therefore this is what Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

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

17 This is what Yahweh of hosts says, Consider{+}, and call{+} for the mourning women, that they may come; and send{+} for the skillful women, that they may come:

18 and let them hurry, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.

20 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O you{+} women, and let your{+} ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your{+} daughters wailing, and every woman her fellow woman lamentation.

21 For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets.

22 Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of man will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none will gather [them].

23 Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches;

24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.

25 Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in [their] uncircumcision:

26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners [of their hair] cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.