aOh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the bdaughter of my people!
2 aOh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place,
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are badulterers,
A solemn assembly of ctreacherous men.
3 “They abend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,
For they bgo onward from evil to evil,
And they cdo not know Me,” declares Yahweh.
4 “Let everyone abeware of his neighbor,
And bdo not trust any brother,
Because every cbrother surely supplants,
And every neighbor dgoes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone adeceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They bweary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Your ahabitation is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they brefuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.
7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and atest them;
For bwhat else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
8 Their atongue is a slaughtering arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one bspeaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he csets an ambush for him.
9 aShall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.
“On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?
10 “For the amountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the bwilderness a funeral lamentation,
Because they are cturned into ruin so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the dbirds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a aheap of ruins,
A haunt of bjackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a cdesolation, without inhabitant.”