¹⁷ “‘We played the pipe for you,
    and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
    and you did not mourn.’

⁹ “Who is it he is trying to teach?^(A)
    To whom is he explaining his message?^(B)
To children weaned^(C) from their milk,^(D)
    to those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that^[a];
    a little here, a little there.^(E)”

¹¹ Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues^(F)
    God will speak to this people,^(G)
12 to whom he said,
    “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;^(H)
and, “This is the place of repose”—
    but they would not listen.
¹³ So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there^(I)—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
    they will be injured^(J) and snared and captured.^(K)

²⁹ And you will sing
    as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;^(A)
your hearts will rejoice^(B)
    as when people playing pipes^(C) go up
to the mountain^(D) of the Lord,
    to the Rock^(E) of Israel.

⁴ I will build you up again,
    and you, Virgin^(A) Israel, will be rebuilt.^(B)
Again you will take up your timbrels^(C)
    and go out to dance^(D) with the joyful.^(E)

“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)