^(B)“Woe to him ^(C)who heaps up what is not his own—
    for ^(D)how long?—
    and ^(E)loads himself with pledges!”

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(A)“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
    send for the skillful women to come;
¹⁸ let them make haste ^(B)and raise a wailing over us,
    ^(C)that our eyes may run down with tears
    and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ^(D)‘How we are ruined!
    We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
    because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbor a dirge.
²¹ For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(E)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.

¹⁰ “I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
    and a lamentation for ^(A)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(B)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(C)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.

“From ^(B)Aram Balak has brought me,
    the king of Moab ^(C)from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, ^(D)curse Jacob for me,
    and come, denounce Israel!’