| Berean Study Bible | New International Version |
| 1Oh, 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. | 1Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. |
| 2If 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. | 2Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. |
| 3“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. | 3"They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD. |
| 4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander. | 4"Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. |
| 5Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity. | 5Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. |
| 6You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD. | 6You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD. |
| 7Therefore 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? | 7Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: "See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people? |
| 8Their 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. | 8Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. |
| 9Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” | 9Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?" |
| 10I 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. | 10I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone. |
| 11“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.” | 11"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there." |
| 12Who 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? | 12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? |
| 13And 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. | 13The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. |
| 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” | 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them." |
| 15Therefore 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. | 15Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. |
| 16I 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.” | 16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them." |
| 17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them. | 17This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them. |
| 18Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water. | 18Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids. |
| 19For 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.’ ” | 19The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.'" |
| 20Now, 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. | 20Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament. |
| 21For 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. | 21Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares. |
| 22Declare 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.” | 22Say, "This is what the LORD declares: "'Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.'" |
| 23This 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. | 23This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, |
| 24But 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. | 24but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. |
| 25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised: | 25"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- |
| 26Egypt, 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.” | 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." |
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