Online Bible

Grief over Zion

¹^aOh, that my head were watersAnd my eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and nightFor those slain of the ^bdaughter of my people!2 ¹^aOh that I had in the desertA travelers’ lodging place;So that I might leave my peopleAnd go away from them!For all of them are ^badulterers,An assembly of ^ctreacherous people.3 “They ^abend their tongues like their bows;Lies and not truth prevail in the land;For they ^bproceed from evil to evil,And they ^cdo not know Me,” declares the LORD.4 “Let everyone ^abe on guard against his neighbor,And ^bdo not trust any brother;Because every ^cbrother utterly ¹betrays,And every neighbor ^dgoes about as a slanderer.5 “Everyone ^adeceives his neighborAnd does not speak the truth.They have taught their tongue to speak lies;They ^bweary themselves committing wrongdoing.6 “Your ^adwelling is in the midst of deceit;Through deceit they ^brefuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

7 Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says:“Behold, I will refine them and ^aput them to the test;For ^bwhat else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

8 “Their ^atongue is a deadly arrow;It speaks deceit;With his mouth one ^bspeaks peace to his neighbor,But inwardly he ^csets an ambush for him.9 “^aShall I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD.“Shall I not avenge MyselfOn a nation such as this?

10 “I will take up a weeping and wailing for the ^amountains,And for the pastures of the ^bwilderness a song of mourning,Because they are ^claid waste so that no one passes through,And the sound of the livestock is not heard;Both the ^dbirds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.11 “I will make Jerusalem a ^aheap of ruins,A haunt of ^bjackals;And I will make the cities of Judah a ^cdesolation without inhabitant.”

12 Who is the ^awise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom ^bthe mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? ^cWhy is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through? 13 The LORD said, “Because they have ^aabandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have ^afollowed the stubbornness of their heart and the ^bBaals, ¹as their ^cfathers taught them,” 15 therefore this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, ^aI will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them ^bpoisoned water to drink. 16 I will also ^ascatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^bsword after them until I have put an end to them.”

17 This is what the LORD of armies says:“Consider and call for the ^amourning women, that they may come;And send for the ¹^bskillful women, that they may come!

18 “Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,So that our ^aeyes may shed tears,And our eyelids flow with water.19 “For a voice of ^awailing is heard from Zion:‘^bHow devastated we are!We are put to great shame,For we have ^cabandoned the landBecause they have torn down our homes.’”20 Now hear the word of the LORD, you ^awomen,And let your ears receive the word of His mouth;Teach your daughters wailing,And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.21 For ^adeath has come up through our windows;It has entered our palacesTo eliminate the ^bchildren from the streets,The young men from the public squares.22 Speak, “This is what the LORD says:‘The corpses of people will fall ^alike dung on the open field,And like the sheaf after the reaper,But no one will gather them.’”

23 This is what the LORD says: “^aLet no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^bmighty man boast of his might, nor a ^crich man boast of his riches; 24 but let the one who boasts ^aboast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who ^bexercises ¹mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I ^cdelight in these things,” declares the LORD.

25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^auncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^aall those inhabiting the desert who trim the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^buncircumcised of heart.”