Jeremiah 9:15-21

¹⁵therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them poisoned water to drink. ¹⁶I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have put an end to them.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord of armies says:

“Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;

And send for the skillful women, that they may come!

18“Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,

So that our eyes may shed tears,

And our eyelids flow with water.

19“For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:

‘How devastated we are!

We are put to great shame,

For we have abandoned the land

Because they have torn down our homes.’ ”

20Now hear the word of the Lord, you women,

And let your ears receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.

21For death has come up through our windows;

It has entered our palaces

To eliminate the children from the streets,

The young men from the public squares.