17 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“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.

22 Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

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

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The People Mourn in Judgment

17 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for (A)the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
18 Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That (B)our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are plundered!
We are greatly ashamed,
Because we have forsaken the land,
Because we have been cast out of (C)our dwellings.’ ”

20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off (D)the children—[a]no longer to be outside!
And the young men—[b]no longer on the streets!

22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall (E)as refuse on the open field,
Like cuttings after the harvester,
And no one shall gather them.’ ”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:21 Lit. from outside
  2. Jeremiah 9:21 Lit. from the square