9 Oh
that my head were waters, and mine 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 of wayfaring men; that I
might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men. 3 And
they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant
for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and
they know not me, saith the LORD. 4 Take
ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for
every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with
slanders. 5 And
they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth:
they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit
iniquity. 6 Thine
habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know
me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore
thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them;
for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their
tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably
to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. 9 Shall
I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this? 10 For
the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations
of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none
can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both
the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. 11 And
I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the
cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. 12 Who
is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth
of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth
and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? 13 And
the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them,
and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim,
which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood,
and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the heathen,
whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword
after them, till I have consumed them. 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider
ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning
women, that they may come: 18 And let them make haste, and take up
a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids
gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out
of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have
forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye
women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters
wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows,
and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and
the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the
carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful
after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. 23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,
let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these
things I delight, saith the LORD. 25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the
children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that
dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all
the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.