9 Oh, athat 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 for travelers;

That I might leave my people,

And go from them!

For bthey are all adulterers,

An assembly of treacherous men.

3 “And like their bow cthey have bent their tongues for lies.

They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.

For they proceed from devil to evil,

And they edo not know Me,” says the Lord.

4 “Everyone ftake heed to his 1neighbor,

And do not trust any brother;

For every brother will utterly supplant,

And every neighbor will gwalk with slanderers.

5 Everyone will hdeceive his neighbor,

And will not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They weary themselves to commit iniquity.

6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, iI will refine them and 2try them;

jFor how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?

8 Their tongue is an arrow shot out;

It speaks kdeceit;

One speaks lpeaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,

But 3in his heart he 4lies in wait.

9 mShall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.

“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,

And nfor the 5dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,

Because they are burned up,

So that no one can pass through;

Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.

oBoth the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;

They are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem pa heap of ruins, qa den of jackals.

I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”

12 rWho is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

13 And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have snot obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have twalked according to the 6dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, uwhich their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will vfeed them, this people, wwith wormwood, and give them 7water of gall to drink. 16 I will xscatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. yAnd I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The People Mourn in Judgment

17 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for zthe mourning women,

That they may come;

And send for skillful wailing women,

That they may come.

18 Let them make haste

And take up a wailing for us,

That aour eyes may run with tears,

And our eyelids gush with water.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:

‘How we are plundered!

We are greatly ashamed,

Because we have forsaken the land,

Because we have been cast out of bour dwellings.’ ”

20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.

21 For death has come through our windows,

Has entered our palaces,

To kill off cthe children—8no longer to be outside!

And the young men—9no longer on the streets!

22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall das refuse on the open field,

Like cuttings after the harvester,

And no one shall gather them.’ ”

23 Thus says the Lord:

e“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his fmight,

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

24 But glet him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, 1judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

hFor in these I delight,” says the Lord.

25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that iI will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the jfarthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are kuncircumcised in the heart.”

Idols and the True God

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

2 Thus says the Lord:

a“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;

Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,

For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are 1futile;

For bone cuts a tree from the forest,

The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

4 They decorate it with silver and gold;

They cfasten it with nails and hammers

So that it will not topple.

5 They are upright, like a palm tree,

And dthey cannot speak;

They must be ecarried,

Because they cannot go by themselves.

Do not be afraid of them,

For fthey cannot do evil,

Nor can they do any good.”

6 Inasmuch as there is none glike You, O Lord

(You are great, and Your name is great in might),

7 hWho would not fear You, O King of the nations?

For this is Your rightful due.

For iamong all the wise men of the nations,

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

8 But they are altogether jdull-hearted and foolish;

A wooden idol is a 2worthless doctrine.

9 Silver is beaten into plates;

It is brought from Tarshish,

And kgold from Uphaz,

The work of the craftsman

And of the hands of the metalsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all lthe work of skillful men.

10 But the Lord is the true God;

He is mthe living God and the neverlasting King.

At His wrath the earth will tremble,

And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

11 Thus you shall say to them: o“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth pshall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

12 He qhas made the earth by His power,

He has restablished the world by His wisdom,

And shas stretched out the heavens at His discretion.

13 tWhen He utters His voice,

There is a 3multitude of waters in the heavens:

u“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain,

He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

14 vEveryone is wdull-hearted, without knowledge;

xEvery metalsmith is put to shame by an image;

yFor his molded image is falsehood,

And there is no breath in them.

15 They are futile, a work of errors;

In the time of their punishment they shall perish.

16 zThe Portion of Jacob is not like them,

For He is the Maker of all things,

And aIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

bThe Lord of hosts is His name.