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17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come,
    and for the skillful women, so that they come.
18 And let them hasten,
    and let them lift up wailing over us,
so that our eyes may melt with tears,
    and our eyelids may flow with water.
19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion,
    ‘How we are devastated!
We are very ashamed because we have left the land,
    because they have overthrown our dwelling places.’
20 For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,
and teach your daughters a lamentation,
    and each woman her neighbor a lament.
21 For death has come into our windows,
    it has entered into our fortresses,
to cut off the children[a] from the streets,[b]
    the young men from the public squares.

22 Speak, ‘thus declares[c] Yahweh:

“The dead body of the human will fall
    like dung upon the surface of the field,
and like cut grain behind the reaper,
    and there is no one who gathers.”’”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:21 Hebrew “child”
  2. Jeremiah 9:21 Hebrew “street”
  3. Jeremiah 9:22 Literally “a declaration of”

The People Mourn in Judgment

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

20 Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ears receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a dirge
    and each to her neighbor a lament.(D)
21 “Death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces
to cut off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.”(E)
22 Speak! Thus says the Lord:
“Human corpses shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves behind the reaper,
    and no one shall gather them.”(F)

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