1 If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a spring of tears, then I would weep day and night for the slain {chalal: fallen ones} of the daughter of my people {bat-ammi: nation as family}.
2 If only there were for me in the wilderness {midbar: place of separation} a lodging place for travelers so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers {menaafim: covenant breakers}, a gathering of traitors.
3 They draw their tongue like a bow, aiming at falsehood; they are not strong for faithfulness {emunah: steadfast reliability} in the land. They move from evil to evil, and they have not known Me, declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
4 Let each person be on guard against his neighbor, and let him not trust any brother; for every brother will supplant {ya-a-kov: act deceptively}, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer {rakhil: malicious gossip}.
5 Each one deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth; they have trained their tongue to speak falsehood {shaker: deliberate deception}; they wear themselves out to commit iniquity {ha’aveh: twist or distort}.
6 Your dwelling {shivtecha: settled habitation} is in the midst of deceit; in deceit they refuse and spurn my knowledge, declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Sovereign Commander}: “See, I will refine {tzarref: purify by fire} them and I will test them; for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?”
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. With his mouth he speaks peace to his neighbor {re'ehu: companion, close associate}, but within he sets an ambush {arba: secret trap}.
9 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}. On a nation like this, should not My soul take vengeance {titnaqqem: exact retribution}?
10 For the mountains I will lift up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation {qinah: formal dirge}, because they are scorched {nitzetu: completely burned}, with no one passing through, and the sound of livestock is not heard; the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled and gone away.
11 And I {YHWH, Judgment Enactor} will make Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: City Of Peace} a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man {khakham: skillful in discernment} who can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} spoken so that he can declare it? For what reason has the land perished and been burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
13 The LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} declared, “They have turned aside from my law {torah: instruction} that I put before them, and they did not listen to my voice nor walk in it.”
14 Instead, they walked after the stubbornness {sherirut: self-will and obstinacy} of their heart and after the Baals {baalim: plural forms of Canaanite deities worshipped in ancient Israel}, as their fathers taught them.
15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH tzvaot, Commander of Armies}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisra'el, Covenant Protector}: “Look, I will feed this people with wormwood {la'anah: intensely bitter plant}, and I will give them water of poison {mey-rosh: deadly substance} to drink.”
16 And I {YHWH, Covenant Enforcer} will scatter them among nations {goyim: foreign peoples} unknown to them and their fathers, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
17 Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH tsevaot: Divine Warrior}: “Consider {hitbonenu: reflect deeply}, and call for the women who mourn, so that they may come; and send for the women skilled in lamenting, so that they may come.”
18 Let them hurry and lift up a wailing {nehi: mournful crying} for us, so that our eyes may stream with tears {dim’ah: liquid sorrow}, and our eyelids may pour out water.
19 For the sound of wailing {nehi: mournful lament} is heard from Zion: “How we have been devastated! We are deeply ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, and they have thrown down our dwellings {mishkenoteinu: habitations}.”
20 Hear, O women, the word of the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}, and let your ears take in the utterance of His mouth; teach your daughters the wailing {nēhî: mourning lament}, and each woman her companion the lamentation.
21 For death has come up through our windows and has entered our palaces {be-armenotenu: noble residences}, cutting off the infant {olal: vulnerable child} from outside and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, “Thus declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}: The carcass {nivlat: dead body, corpse} of man will lie like dung on the face of the field, and like a sheaf left behind after the reaper, with no one to gather.”
23 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Speaker}: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom; let not the mighty man {gibor: renowned champion} boast in his might; let not the rich man boast in his riches.”
24 But let the one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me {YHWH, Covenant Revealer}, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love {chesed: loyal kindness}, justice, and righteousness in the land; for I delight in these, declares the LORD.
25 Look, days are coming—the declaration of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Herald}—when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised {bearlah: foreskin condition}.
26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who trim the edges {ketsutsei peah: ritual edge cutting}—those who dwell in the wilderness—for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart {lev: inner self}.