Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they [are] all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.
"And [like] their bow they have bent their tongues [for] lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," says the LORD.
"Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers.
Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can [men] hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.
Who [is] the wise man who may understand this? And [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish [and] burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
"I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them."
For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because we have been cast out of our dwellings.' "
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children -- [no longer to be] outside! [And] the young men -- [no longer] on the streets!
Speak, "Thus says the LORD: 'Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, Like cuttings after the harvester, And no one shall gather [them.'] "
Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty [man] glory in his might, Nor let the rich [man] glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I [am] the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.
"Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all [who are] in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all [these] nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in the heart."