[Is] Israel a slave? Or {a slave born in a house}? Why has he become plunder?

Why do they roar and cry then upon him, as a lion? They have made his land waste, his cities are so burnt up, that there is no man dwelling in them.

And now {why do you go} the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor? And {why do you go} the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the {Euphrates}?

I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?

Why do you complain to me? All of you have {rebelled against me}," {declares} Yahweh.

O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, 'We roam about freely, we will not come again to you'?

Why beautify your way to seek love? therefore have you also taught the wicked ones your ways.

Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

This is why the showers haven’t come—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look of a prostitute
and refuse to be ashamed.

Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;
they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

Why is this to Me? frankincense from Sheba cometh, And the sweet cane from a land afar off, Your burnt-offerings are not for acceptance, And your sacrifices have not been sweet to Me.

Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away [in] enduring apostasy? They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.

Why [are] we sitting? Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us perish there, for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish, and has provided drink for us, water of poison, because we have sinned against Yahweh.

Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?

Who [is] the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed? It is laid waste like the desert so that no one passes through."

Why hath the beloved in mine own house, done an abomination? Shall, vows and holy flesh, take away from thee thy wickednesses, or shalt thou by these, escape?

You [will be] in the right, Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak [my] claims with you. Why does [the] way of [the] wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.

And if you say in your heart, 'Why have these [things] happened to me?' Because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered; your heels have endured violence.

"The Lord says, 'That is why I will scatter your people like chaff that is blown away by a desert wind.

[You are] the hope of Israel, its savior in time of distress. Why should you be like an alien in the land, or like a traveler who spreads out [his tent] to spend the night?

Why should you be like a confused man, like a warrior [who] is not able to help? Yet you [are] in our midst, Yahweh, and your name is called upon us. You must not leave us!

Have you completely rejected Judah? Or has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hope for peace, but there is no good, and for a time of healing, but look, there is terror.

Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable? It refuses to become healed. Truly you are to me like a deceitful [brook], waters [that] are not trustworthy.

{And then} when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, '{Why} has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?'

For why? I heard so many derisions and blasphemies, yea even of my own companions, and such as were conversant with me: which went about, to make me afraid, saying, "Upon him; let us go upon him, to fear him, and make him hold his tongue: that we may overcome him, and be avenged of him."

{Why} did I come out from [the] womb, to see toil, and sorrow, and [to] {end my days in shame}?

And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, '{Why} has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?'

[Is] this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel? Or a vessel [in which] there is no delight? Why are he and his offspring thrown far, and cast away to the land that they do not know?"

For lo, I begin to plague the city that my name is given unto: think ye then, that I will leave you unpunished? Ye shall not go quit. For why? I call for a sword upon all the inhabiters of the earth, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.

Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, {saying}, 'This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, {without} inhabitant'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.

Why should you die--you and your people--by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

And you must not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a site of ruins?

For why? They preach you lies in my name, and I have not sent them, sayeth the LORD.

and so then why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite who exhibits the behavior of a prophet for you?

Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child. Why [do] I see every strong man [with] his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth? And [why] are all [their] faces changed to paleness?

Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain [is] incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt--your sins are vast-- I have done these [things] to you.

In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.

where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, {saying}, "Why [are] you prophesying, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it,

and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him [for evaluation and judgment],” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed”’?”

{But then} at the coming up against the land of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, then we said, 'Come and let us go [to] Jerusalem {before} the army of the Chaldeans, and {before} the army of the Arameans.' That is why we are living in Jerusalem."

And concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, you shall say, 'Thus says Yahweh, "You have burned this scroll, {saying}, 'Why have you written in it, {saying}, "The king of Babylon will certainly come and he will destroy this land, and he will cause to disappear from it humankind and animals"?'"

And the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; for why should he weaken the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking to them according to these words? for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.

*** and the Lord has made it come, and has done as he said; because of your sin against the Lord in not giving ear to his voice; and that is why this thing has come on you.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secrecy at Mizpah, {saying}, "Please let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and {nobody} will know. Why should he kill you, so that all of Judah who are gathered to you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish?"

So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.'

So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Why [are] you doing great harm to {yourselves}, to cut off for yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, to not leave over for yourselves a remnant,

And why have you provoked me to anger by the works of your hands, by offering sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle so that you cut yourselves off and become an object of ridicule and scorn among all the nations of the earth?

Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses.

You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the Lord! You have not obeyed the Lord! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you."

Why have I seen it? They, panic-struck, are drawing back, Yea, their heroes, are crushed, Yea they have, fled, and not turned, - Terror round about! Declareth Yahweh.

Why are your bulls defeated? He did not stand because Yahweh thrust him down.

Of the sons of Ammon-Thus saith Yahweh: Hath Israel no, sons? Hath he no, heir? Why hath, Malkam, taken possession of Gad, Or have, his people, in the cities thereof, made their dwelling?

Why shouldst thou glory in the vales, The flowing of thy vale O apostate daughter? She who is trusting in her treasures, saying, Who shall invade, me?

For why? I have sworn by myself, sayeth the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a wilderness; an open shame; a laughingstock and cursing; and her cities shall be a continual desert.

Why is the famous city, the joyful town, not abandoned?

I myself have laid wait for thee, and thou art taken. Unawares art thou trapped and snared. For why, thou hast provoked the LORD unto anger: