1If my head were a flowing spring,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
over the slain of my dear9:1 Lit slain among the daughter of my people.
2If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,9:2 1Kg 19:9–10
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
3They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take me into account.9:3 Jr 4:22
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,9:4 Gn 27:36
and every friend spread slander.9:4 Jr 6:28
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6You live in a world of deception.9:6 LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit9:6 Gn 27:35–36; 34:13
In their deception they refuse to know me.9:6 Rm 1:17
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
for what else can I do
because of my dear9:7 Lit of the daughter of my people?9:7 LXX, Tg read because of their evils
8Their tongues are deadly arrows —
they speak deception.9:8 Ps 28:3
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
on such a nation as this?
10I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
everything has fled — they have gone away.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
13The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned my instruction,9:13 2Ch 12:1 which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it.
14Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts9:14 Dt 29:19; Ps 81:12 and followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.”9:14 Jr 2:8,23
Mourning over Judah
17This is what the Lord of Armies says:
send for the skillful women.
18Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids be soaked with weeping.
19For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to9:20 Lit Your ears must receive the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
Boast in the Lord
23“‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
24But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25“‘Look, the days are coming — this is the Lord’s declaration — when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:9:25 Jr 4:4; Rm 2:28–29
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