You are to speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears; day and night may they not stop, for my dearest people have been destroyed by a crushing blow, an extremely severe wound.
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. Wall of Daughter Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest.
My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief , because of the destruction of my dear people, because infants and nursing babies faint in the streets of the city.
She weeps bitterly during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. , All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, everything has fled #– #they have gone away.
My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.
Cut off the hair of your sacred vow , and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.”
Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners , to wail.
From the time of our youth the shameful one has consumed what our ancestors have worked for – their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors, from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the Lord our God.’
What can I say on your behalf? What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?