King James Version

1 Who will give me a lodging place in the wilderness, that I may leave my people and go from them? For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. 2 And they guided their tongues with falsehood, and they were not honest; they grew strong in the land, for they went from evil to evil, and they did not know me, declares the Lord. 3 A man should guard against his friend, and on all a brother do not trust, for every brother is deceitful, and every friend goes about as a slanderer. 4 And a man will deceive his neighbor, and they will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; it is wearisome. 5 You shall sit in deceit; through deceit we have rejected knowledge, declares the Lord. 6 Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts: Behold, I am shaping and testing them, for how shall I do before the daughter of my people? 7 A deadly arrow is shot, deceit is spoken with his mouth; he speaks peace to his friend, yet in his heart he sets an ambush for him. 8 On these I will not bring punishment, says Yahweh. If in a nation like this I will not take vengeance on my soul. 9 Upon the hills I will raise a cry and woe, and upon the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, for they have been devastated without a person passing by, and the voice of livestock was not heard; from the birds of the heavens and down to the beasts, they have fled and gone away. 10 And I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a dwelling place for jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. 11 Who is the wise man that understands this, and to whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, been burned like a desert, with no passerby? 12 And the LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law that I set before them and have not obeyed My voice and have not walked in it." 13 And they went after the stubbornness of their hearts and after the idols which their forefathers taught them. 14 Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitterness and give them poisonous water to drink. 15 And I will scatter them among the nations that they did not know, them and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. 16 Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Consider and call for the mourners and let them come, and send for the wise and let them come. 17 And let them hurry and give us a lament, and let our eyes pour out tears, and let our eyelids drip with water. 18 For a voice of lamentation is heard from Zion: "How are we greatly ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, because they have thrown out our dwellings." 19 For women have heard the word of the LORD, and let your ears take in the word of my mouth, and let your daughters learn to lament, and a woman her friend a lamentation. 20 For death has risen in our windows, has come into our palaces to cut off the infants from outside, from the streets. 21 Thus says the Lord: and the carcass of man shall fall like dung on the face of the field, and like the gleaning after the harvest, and there shall be no gatherer. 22 Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. 23 For if in this the one who boasts should boast, let him understand and know that I am Yahweh, executing lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, declares Yahweh. 24 Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, and I will punish all who are uncircumcised. 25 Upon Egypt and upon Judah and upon Edom and upon the children of Ammon and upon Moab and upon all the gleanings of the hair that dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart. 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.