We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, ¹  but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.

But they rebelled and offended ¹  his holy Spirit, ²  so he turned into an enemy and fought against them.

So, mourn, ¹  you people of this nation. ²  Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject ³  and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’” ⁴ 

The leading men of the cities send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns, ¹  but they do not find any water there. They return with their containers ²  empty. Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. ³ 

Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. ¹ 

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. ¹ 

The Lord says to her, ¹  “Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears! ²  For your heartfelt repentance ³  will be rewarded. Your children will return from the land of the enemy. I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. ¹  Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!’ ² 

They will answer, ‘Moab is disgraced, for it has fallen! Wail and cry out in mourning! Announce along the Arnon River that Moab has been destroyed.’

But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ¹  Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds! Perhaps she can be healed!

He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front ¹  and back; ²  written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald. ¹ 

Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lip or eat food brought by others. ¹ 

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

“Son of man, sing ¹  a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the sealer ²  of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

I will disturb ¹  many peoples, when I bring about your destruction among the nations, among countries you do not know.

This is a lament; they will chant it. The daughters of the nations will chant it. They will chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Therefore the land will mourn, and all its inhabitants will perish. ¹  The wild animals, ²  the birds of the sky, and even the fish in the sea will perish.

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ¹  and pour the very best oils on themselves. ²  Yet they are not concerned over ³  the ruin ⁴  of Joseph.