Jeremiah 9:10-21

10“For the 1mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the 2wilderness a dirge, Because they are 3laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the 4birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.11I will make Jerusalem a 5heap of ruins, A haunt of 6jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a 7desolation, without inhabitant.”

12Who is the 8wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom 9the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? 10Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13The Lord said, “Because they have 11forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 14but have 12walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the 13Baals, as their 14fathers taught them,” 15therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, 15I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them 16poisoned water to drink. 16I will 17scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the 18sword after them until I have annihilated them.”

17Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider and call for the 19mourning women, that they may come; And send for the 2021wailing women, that they may come!18Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, That our 22eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water.19For a voice of 23wailing is heard from Zion, ‘24How are we ruined! We are put to great shame, For we have 25left the land, Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”20Now hear the word of the Lord, O you 26women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge.21For 27death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To cut off the 28children from the streets, The young men from the town squares.