“Consider now! Call for the wailing women^(A) to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
¹⁸ Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.^(B)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined^(C) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

²⁰ Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.^(D)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.^(E)
21 Death has climbed in through our windows^(F)
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men^(G) from the public squares.

“‘Dead bodies will lie
    like dung^(H) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
    with no one to gather them.’”

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom^(I)
    or the strong boast of their strength^(J)
    or the rich boast of their riches,^(K)
24 but let the one who boasts boast^(L) about this:
    that they have the understanding to know^(M) me,
that I am the Lord,^(N) who exercises kindness,^(O)
    justice and righteousness^(P) on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

“Do not learn the ways of the nations^(V)
    or be terrified by signs^(W) in the heavens,
    though the nations are terrified by them.
³ For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman^(X) shapes it with his chisel.^(Y)
4 They adorn it with silver^(Z) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.^(AA)
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;^(AB)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.^(AC)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm^(AD)
    nor can they do any good.”^(AE)

⁶ No one is like you,^(AF) Lord;
    you are great,^(AG)
    and your name is mighty in power.
⁷ Who should not fear^(AH) you,
    King of the nations?^(AI)
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

⁸ They are all senseless^(AJ) and foolish;^(AK)
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.^(AL)
9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish^(AM)
    and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made^(AN)
    is then dressed in blue and purple—
    all made by skilled workers.
¹⁰ But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God,^(AO) the eternal King.^(AP)
When he is angry,^(AQ) the earth trembles;^(AR)
    the nations cannot endure his wrath.^(AS)

¹² But God made^(AU) the earth^(AV) by his power;
    he founded the world by his wisdom^(AW)
    and stretched out the heavens^(AX) by his understanding.
¹³ When he thunders,^(AY) the waters in the heavens roar;
    he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning^(AZ) with the rain^(BA)
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(BB)

¹⁴ Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is shamed^(BC) by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;^(BD)
    they have no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are worthless,^(BE) the objects of mockery;
    when their judgment comes, they will perish.
¹⁶ He who is the Portion^(BF) of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the Maker of all things,^(BG)
including Israel, the people of his inheritance^(BH)—
    the Lord Almighty is his name.^(BI)

¹⁹ Woe to me because of my injury!
    My wound^(BM) is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
    “This is my sickness, and I must endure^(BN) it.”
²⁰ My tent^(BO) is destroyed;
    all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;^(BP)
    no one is left now to pitch my tent
    or to set up my shelter.
²¹ The shepherds^(BQ) are senseless^(BR)
    and do not inquire of the Lord;^(BS)
so they do not prosper^(BT)
    and all their flock is scattered.^(BU)
22 Listen! The report is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north!^(BV)
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,^(BW)
    a haunt of jackals.^(BX)