| Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1If my head were a flowing spring, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people. | 1I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed. |
| 2If only I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a solemn assembly of treacherous people. | 2I wish I had a lodging place in the desert where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. Then I would desert my people and walk away from them because they are all unfaithful to God, a congregation of people that has been disloyal to him. |
| 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. This is the LORD's declaration. | 3The LORD says, "These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. Indeed, they do one evil thing after another and do not pay attention to me. |
| 4Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander. | 4Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. And all of his friends will tell lies about him. |
| 5Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong. | 5One friend deceives another and no one tells the truth. These people have trained themselves to tell lies. They do wrong and are unable to repent. |
| 6You live in a world of deception. In their deception they refuse to know me. This is the LORD's declaration. | 6They do one act of violence after another, and one deceitful thing after another. They refuse to pay attention to me," says the LORD. |
| 7Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of my dear people? | 7Therefore the LORD who rules over all says, "I will now purify them in the fires of affliction and test them. The wickedness of my dear people has left me no choice. What else can I do? |
| 8Their tongues are deadly arrows--they speak deception. With his mouth one speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush. | 8Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They are always telling lies. Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. |
| 9Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? | 9I will certainly punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will certainly bring retribution 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. From the birds of the sky to the animals, everything has fled--they have gone away. | 10I said, "I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains, I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone." |
| 11I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place. | 11The LORD said, "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them." |
| 12Who is the person wise enough to understand this? Who has the LORD spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through? | 12I said, "Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? Who has a word from the LORD that can explain it? Why does the land lie in ruins? Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?" |
| 13The LORD said, "It is because they abandoned my instruction, which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it. | 13The LORD answered, "This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws. |
| 14Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and followed the Baals as their fathers taught them." | 14Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do. |
| 15Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink. | 15So then, listen to what I, the LORD God of Israel who rules over all, say. 'I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. |
| 16I will scatter them among the nations that they and their fathers have not known. 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 anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords until I have destroyed them.'" |
| 17This is what the LORD of Armies says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women. | 17The LORD who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!" |
| 18Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids be soaked with weeping. | 18I said, "Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water. |
| 19For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion: How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down. | 19For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion. They will wail, 'We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced! For our houses have been torn down and we must leave our land.'" |
| 20Now hear the word of the LORD, you women. Pay attention to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge, | 20I said, "So now, you wailing women, hear what the LORD says. Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor this lament. |
| 21for Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares. | 21Death has climbed in through our windows. It has entered into our fortified houses. It has taken away our children who play in the streets. It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.' |
| 22"Speak as follows: 'This is what the LORD declares: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain after the reaper with no one to gather it. | 22Tell your daughters and neighbors, 'The LORD says, "The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered."'" |
| 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. | 23The LORD says, "Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich. |
| 24But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me--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. | 24If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the LORD, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things," says the LORD. |
| 25"'Look, the days are coming--this is the LORD's declaration--when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised: | 25The LORD says, "Watch out! The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. |
| 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.'" | 26That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the LORD's sight. Moreover, none of the people of Israel are circumcised when it comes to their hearts." |
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