A Lament over Zion 1 CPDV “Who will provide water for my head, and a fount of tears for my eyes? And then I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. BSB BSB: Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
2 CPDV Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors. BSB BSB: If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
3 CPDV And they have bent their tongue, like a bow, to send forth lies and not the truth. They have been strengthened upon the earth. And they have gone from one evil to another. But they have not known me, says the Lord. BSB BSB: “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
4 CPDV Let each one guard himself against his neighbor, and let him have no trust in any brother of his. For every brother will utterly overthrow, and every friend will advance deceitfully. BSB BSB: “Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
5 CPDV And a man will deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they have labored to commit iniquity. BSB BSB: Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
6 CPDV Your habitation is in the midst of deceit. In their deceitfulness, they have refused to know me, says the Lord.” BSB BSB: You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
7 CPDV Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them, and I will test them. For what else can I do before the face of the daughter of my people? BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
8 CPDV Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit. With his mouth, he speaks peace with his friend, and then he secretly lies in ambush for him. BSB BSB: Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
9 CPDV Shall I not visit upon them concerning these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind? BSB BSB: Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
10 CPDV I will take up weeping and lamentation over the mountains, and mourning over the beautiful places in the desert. For they have been scorched because no man is passing through them. And they have not heard the voice of any occupant. From the birds of the air, even to the cattle, they have migrated and withdrawn. BSB BSB: I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
11 CPDV And I will make Jerusalem into piles of sand and into a lair for serpents. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, so much so that there will be no inhabitant. BSB BSB: “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
12 CPDV Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?” BSB BSB: Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
13 CPDV And the Lord said: “It is because they have abandoned my law, which I gave to them, and they have not listened to my voice, and they have not walked by it. BSB BSB: And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice.
14 CPDV And they have gone after the depravity of their own heart, and after Baal, which they learned from their fathers.” BSB BSB: Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”
15 CPDV For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed this people with absinthe, and I will give them the water of gall to drink. BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
16 CPDV And I will disperse them among nations, which they and their fathers have not known. And I will send the sword after them, until they are consumed.” BSB BSB: I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
17 CPDV Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Consider and call upon the women mourners, and let them approach. And send to those women who are wise, and let them hurry. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
18 CPDV ‘Let them hasten to take up a lamentation over us. Let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run with water.’ BSB BSB: Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
19 CPDV For a voice of lamentation has been heard from Zion: ‘How is it that we have been devastated and greatly confounded? Our tabernacles have been thrown down because we have forsaken the land.’ ” BSB BSB: For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”
20 CPDV “Therefore, listen, O women, to the word of the Lord! And let your ears take up the word of his mouth. And teach your daughters to lament. And let each one teach her neighbor to mourn: BSB BSB: Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament.
21 CPDV ‘For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered our houses to perish the little children from the outdoors, the youths from the streets.’ ” BSB BSB: For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
22 CPDV “Speak: Thus says the Lord: And the corpses of men will fall like manure over the face of the countryside, and like hay behind the back of the reaper, and there will be no one to gather it.” BSB BSB: Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”
23 CPDV Thus says the Lord: “The wise man should not glory in his wisdom, and the strong man should not glory in his strength, and the rich man should not glory in his riches. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
24 CPDV But he who glories should glory in this: to know me and to know me well. For I am the Lord, who accomplishes mercy and judgment and justice upon the earth. For these things are pleasing to me, says the Lord. BSB BSB: But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
25 CPDV Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all who are uncircumcised: BSB BSB: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
26 CPDV upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all who have shaved off their hair, living in the desert. For all the nations are uncircumcised in body, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” BSB BSB: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
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