4Let every one beware of his neighbour,
and put no trust in any brother;
for every brother is a supplanter,
and every neighbour goes about as a slanderer.
5Every one deceives his neighbour,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.
6Heaping oppression upon oppression,
and deceit upon deceit,
they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.
7Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Behold, I will refine them and test them,
for what else can I do, because of my people?
8Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth each speaks peaceably to his neighbour,
but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.
9Shall I not punish them for these things? says Yahweh;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10"Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.
11I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a lair of jackals;
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant."
12Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13And Yahweh says: "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it, 14but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. 15Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink. 16I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."
17Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
send for the skilful women to come;
18let them make haste and raise a wailing over us,
that our eyes may run down with tears,
and our eyelids gush with water.
19For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
'How we are ruined!
We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings.' "
20Hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,
and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
and each to her neighbour a dirge.
21For death has come up into our windows,
it has entered our palaces,
cutting off the children from the streets
and the young men from the squares.
22Speak, "Thus says Yahweh:
'The dead bodies of men shall fall
like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves after the reaper,
and none shall gather them.' "
23Thus says Yahweh: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; 24but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am Yahweh who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says Yahweh."
25"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised - 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert that cut the corners of their hair; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
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