1Oh 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 ! 2Oh 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 . 3And 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 . 4Take 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 . 5And 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 . 6Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit ; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD .
The Call to Repentance
7Therefore 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 ? 8Their 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 . 9Shall I not visit them for these things ? saith the LORD : shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10For 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 . 11And I will make Jerusalem heaps , and a den of dragons ; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate , without an inhabitant . 12Who 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 ?
The Consequences of Sin
13And the LORD saith , Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice , neither walked therein; 14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart , and after Baalim , which their fathers taught them: 15Therefore 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 . 16I 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.
The Call to Wisdom and Understanding
17Thus 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 : 18And 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 . 19For 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 . 20Yet 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 . 21For 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 . 22Speak , 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 . 23Thus 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 : 24But 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 .
The Judgment of the Nations
25Behold, the days come , saith the LORD , that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised ; 26Egypt , 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 .