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OH
that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep
day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that
I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my
people, and go from them! for they be all
adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they
bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not
valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and
they know not me, saith the LORD.
4 Take ye
heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every
brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they
will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have
taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit
iniquity.
6 Thine
habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know
me, saith the LORD.
7 Therefore
thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt
them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their
tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh
peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I
not visit them for these things? saith the
LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For
the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of
the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass
through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both
the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I
will make Jerusalem heaps, and
a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah
desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is
the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath
spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is
burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And
the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law
which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But
have walked after the imagination of their own heart,
and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
15 Therefore
thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even
this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will
scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have
known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that
they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And
let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down
with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a
voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because
we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
20 Yet
hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his
mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour
lamentation.
21 For
death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to
cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak,
Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none
shall gather them.
23 Thus
saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
rich man glory in his riches:
24 But
let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that
I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight,
saith the LORD.
25 Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are
circumcised with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt,
and Judah, and Edom,
and the children of Ammon, and Moab,
and all that are in the utmost corners,
that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are
uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel
are uncircumcised in the heart.
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