1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring 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 treacherous men. 3 They bend their tongue, as it were their
bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth:
for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.
4 Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't you trust in
any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will
go about with slanders. 5 They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and
will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they
weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Your habitation is in the midst of
deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh. 7 Therefore
thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how
else should I do, because of the daughter of my people? 8 Their
tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his
neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. 9 Shall I
not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on
such a nation as this? 10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and
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 sky and the animals are 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 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 is the land perished
and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? 13 Yahweh
says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not
obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, 14 but have walked after the
stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers
taught them; 15 therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel,
Behold, I will feed them, even 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 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts,
Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and
send for the skillful women, that they may come: 18 and let them make
haste, 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 are we 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, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his
mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor
lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, it is 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 men shall
fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and
none shall 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 Behold, 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 children of Ammon, and Moab, and
all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the
wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of
Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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