Jeremiah 9:12-22

12No one is wise enough to understand this. To whom has the Lord revealed this so that they can explain it? The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert so that no one can travel through it.

13The Lord answered, “They’ve abandoned my teachings that I placed in front of them. They didn’t obey me, and they didn’t follow them.

14They followed their own stubborn ways and other gods—the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

15This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to feed these people bitterness and give them poison to drink.

16I will scatter them among nations that they and their ancestors haven’t heard of. I will send armies after them until I’ve wiped them out.

17This is what the Lord of Armies says: Consider this: Call for the women who cry at funerals. Send for those who are the most skilled.

18They should come quickly and cry for us. Our eyes will run with tears. Our eyelids will flow with water.

19The sound of crying is heard from Zion. “We’re ruined! We’re very ashamed. We must leave our land because our homes have been torn down.”

20Listen to the Lord’s word, you women, and open your ears to hear his words. Teach your daughters how to cry. Teach your neighbors funeral songs.

21Death has come through our windows and entered our palaces. Death has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the marketplaces.

22This is what the Lord says: Dead bodies will fall like manure on the field. They will be like grain that has been cut but not gathered.