But if you will not listen to it, my soul will weep in secret places for your pride; and my eyes will weep sorely and run down with tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses, saying: Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in their midst,
Therefore you will say this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been broken with a great blow, with a very infected wound.
As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You, nor have I desired the woeful day; You Yourself know that which came out of my lips was in Your presence.
Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds that feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will punish you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for the comforter, who should relieve my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate for the enemy has prevailed.
She weeps sorely in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is astounding; she has no comforter. “O Lord, look upon my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!”
Their heart cried to the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!
Son of man, behold, I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.
As the flock for sacrifices, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.
And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan for all the abominations that are done in its midst.”
If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart to give honor to My name, says the Lord of Hosts, I will send a curse on you and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.
“I regret that I have set up Saul to be king because he has turned back from following Me, and he has not carried out My words.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried to the Lord all night.