“‘Virgin Daughter^(B) Zion
    despises^(C) you and mocks^(D) you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(E) as you flee.

¹³ What can I say for you?^(A)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter^(B) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?^(C)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.^(D)
    Who can heal you?

“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears^(A)
    night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin^(B) Daughter, my people,
    has suffered a grievous wound,
    a crushing blow.^(C)

⁴ I also could speak like you,
    if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
    and shake my head^(A) at you.

¹⁵ All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;^(A)
they scoff^(B) and shake their heads^(C)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:^(D)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,^(E)
    the joy of the whole earth?”^(F)

“Virgin Daughter^(C) Zion^(D)
    despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(E) as you flee.
²³ Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(F)
    Against whom have you raised your voice^(G)
and lifted your eyes in pride?^(H)
    Against the Holy One^(I) of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
    ‘With my many chariots^(J)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights^(K) of Lebanon.^(L)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.^(M)
I have reached its remotest heights,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign lands^[a]
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up^(N) all the streams of Egypt.^(O)’

²⁶ “Have you not heard?
    Long ago I ordained^(P) it.
In days of old I planned^(Q) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(R)
27 Their people, drained of power,
    are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,
like grass^(S) sprouting on the roof,^(T)
    scorched^[b] before it grows up.

²⁸ “But I know where you are
    and when you come and go^(U)
    and how you rage^(V) against me.
²⁹ Because you rage against me
    and because your insolence^(W) has reached my ears,
I will put my hook^(X) in your nose^(Y)
    and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
    by the way you came.^(Z)

“This year^(AB) you will eat what grows by itself,
    and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year^(AC) sow and reap,
    plant vineyards^(AD) and eat their fruit.^(AE)
31 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
    will take root^(AF) below and bear fruit^(AG) above.
³² For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,^(AH)
    and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.^(AI)
The zeal^(AJ) of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

“He will not enter this city^(AK)
    or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
    or build a siege ramp^(AL) against it.
³⁴ By the way that he came he will return;^(AM)
    he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
³⁵ “I will defend^(AN) this city and save it,
    for my sake^(AO) and for the sake of David^(AP) my servant!”

²⁵ I am an object of scorn^(A) to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.^(B)

⁷ All who see me mock me;^(A)
    they hurl insults,^(B) shaking their heads.^(C)
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.^(D)
Let him deliver him,^(E)
    since he delights^(F) in him.”