“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. ¹  Cries of distress come up to me ²  from Jerusalem. ³ 

The Lord cried out, ¹  “Who in the world ²  will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will grieve over you? Who will stop long enough ³  to inquire about how you are doing? ⁴ 

As they wail they will lament over you, chanting: “Who was like Tyre, like a tower ¹  in the midst of the sea?”

“As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals – I took them away from you; they became tribute and were a source of shame to you. ¹ 

And you are proud! ¹  Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this ²  from among you?

The merchants who sold ¹  these things, who got rich from her, will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment. They will weep ²  and mourn,

Pay attention to me and answer me! I am so upset ¹  and distressed, ²  I am beside myself, ³ 

Their ¹  priests fell by the sword, but their ²  widows did not weep. ³ 

The new wine dries up, the vines shrivel up, all those who like to celebrate ¹  groan.

So ¹  the Lord has this to say about Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, “This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!” ² 

Wail ¹  like a young virgin ²  clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of ³  her husband-to-be. ⁴ 

all the clans that remain, each separately with their wives.”

Thus the people who had come to mourn ¹  said, “Look how much he loved him!”

Then ¹  the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury ²  with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up. ³ 

When the people heard this troubling word ¹  they mourned; ²  no one put on his ornaments.

When the righteous become numerous, ¹  the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. ² 

Lament, ¹  you residents of the coast, you merchants of Sidon ²  who travel over the sea, whose agents sail over

“Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ²  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ³ 

I chose ¹  the way for them ²  and sat as their chief; ³  I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners. ⁴ 

At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth. ¹