My refreshing for me is sorrow, For me my heart is sick.

Lo, the voice of a cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off, Is Jehovah not in Zion? is her king not in her? Wherefore have they provoked Me with their graven images, With the vanities of a foreigner?

For a breach of the daughter of my people have I been broken, I have been black, astonishment hath seized me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? For wherefore hath not the health of the daughter of my people gone up?

Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.

And they bend their tongue, their bow is a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!

thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am refining them, and have tried them, For how do I do because of the daughter of My people?

For these things do not I see after them? An affirmation of Jehovah, Against a nation such as this doth not My soul avenge itself?

And Jehovah saith: Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it,

But -- in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I am Jehovah, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For in these I have delighted, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Woe to me for my breaking, Grievious hath been my smiting, And I said, Only, this is my sickness, and I bear it.

My tent hath been spoiled, And all my cords have been broken, My sons have gone out from me, and they are not, There is none stretching out any more my tent, And raising up my curtains.

Chastise me, O Jehovah, only in judgment, Not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me small.

That I commanded your fathers, In the day of My bringing them out from the land of Egypt, Out of the iron furnace, saying, Hearken to My voice, and ye have done them, According to all that I command you, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God,

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, And ye have done them.

For I certainly testified against your fathers, In the day of My bringing them up out of the land of Egypt -- till this day, Rising early and testifying, saying, Hearken to My voice,

And Jehovah saith unto me: 'A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, Who refused to hear My words, And they have gone after other gods to serve them, The house of Israel, and the house of Judah, Have made void My covenant, that I made with their fathers.

Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto them evil, That they are not able to go out from, And they have cried unto Me, And I do not hearken unto them.

And thou, thou dost not pray for this people, Nor dost thou lift up for them cry and prayer, For I do not hearken in the time of their calling unto Me for their vexation.

What -- to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest.

And Jehovah of Hosts, who is planting thee, Hath spoken evil concerning thee, For the evil of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah, That they have done to themselves, To provoke Me to anger, to make perfume to Baal.

And, O Jehovah, cause me to know, and I know, Then Thou hast showed me their doings.

And I am as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That against me they have devised devices: We destroy the tree with its food, and cut him off From the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again.

And O Jehovah of Hosts, judging righteousness, Trying reins and heart, I do see Thy vengeance against them, For unto Thee I have revealed my cause.'

And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known me, Thou seest me, and hast tried my heart with Thee, Draw them away as sheep to slaughter, And separate them for a day of slaughter.

I have forsaken My house, I have left Mine inheritance, I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies.

Mine inheritance hath been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, Therefore I have hated her.

A speckled fowl is Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food.

Many shepherds did destroy My vineyard, They have trodden down My portion, They have made My desirable portion Become a wilderness -- a desolation.

He hath made it become a desolation, The desolation hath mourned unto Me, Desolated hath been all the land, But there is no one laying it to heart.

Thus said Jehovah concerning all my evil neighbours, who are striking against the inheritance that I caused my people -- Israel -- to inherit: 'Lo, I am plucking them from off their ground, And the house of Judah I pluck out of their midst.

And it hath been, after My plucking them out, I turn back, and have pitied them, And I have brought them back, Each to his inheritance, and each to his land.

And it hath come to pass, If they learn well the ways of My people, To swear by My name, 'Jehovah liveth,' As they taught My people to swear by Baal, Then they have been built up in the midst of My people.

Thus said Jehovah unto me, 'Go, and thou hast got for thee a girdle of linen, and hast placed it on thy loins, and into water thou dost not cause it to enter:'

and I get the girdle, according to the word of Jehovah, and I place it on my loins.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me a second time, saying,

and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me.

And it cometh to pass, at the end of many days, that Jehovah saith unto me, 'Rise, go to Phrat, and take thence the girdle, that I commanded thee to hide there;'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Thus said Jehovah:

This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, Who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, And go after other gods to serve them, And to bow themselves to them, Yea it is -- as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

For, as the girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave unto Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah, To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not hearkened.

And if ye do not hear it, In secret places doth my soul weep, because of pride, Yea, it weepeth sore, And the tear cometh down mine eyes, For the flock of Jehovah hath been taken captive.

And when thou dost say in thy heart, 'Wherefore have these met me?' For the abundance of thine iniquity Have thy skirts been uncovered, Have thy heels suffered violence.

This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Because thou hast forgotten me, And dost trust in falsehood.

And Jehovah saith unto me: Thou dost not pray for this people for good,

And Jehovah saith unto me: Falsehood the prophets are prophesying in My name, I did not send them, nor command them, Nor have I spoken unto them: A false vision, and divination, and vanity, And the deceit of their own heart, they are prophesying to you.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, and I have not sent them, and they are saying, Sword and famine is not in this land: By sword and by famine are these prophets consumed.

And thou hast said unto them this word: Tears come down mine eyes night and day, And they do not cease, For, with a great breach, Broken hath been the virgin daughter of my people, A very grievous stroke.

And Jehovah saith unto me: Though Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My soul is not toward this people, Send from before My face, and they go out.

Thou -- thou hast left Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Backward thou goest, And I stretch out My hand against thee, And I destroy thee, I have been weary of repenting,

And I scatter them with a fan, in the gates the land, I bereaved, I have destroyed My people, From their ways they turned not back.

Its widows have been more to Me than the sand of the seas, I brought in to them -- against the mother -- A young man -- a spoiler -- at noon. I caused to fall upon her suddenly, wrath and trouble.

Woe to me, my mother, For thou hast borne me a man of strife, And a man of contention to all the land, I have not lent on usury, Nor have they lent on usury to me -- All of them are reviling me.

Thou, Thou hast known, O Jehovah, Remember me, and inspect me, And take vengeance for me of my pursuers, In Thy long-suffering take me not away, Know -- I have borne for Thee reproach.

Thy words have been found, and I eat them, And Thy word is to me for a joy, And for the rejoicing of my heart, For Thy name is called on me, O Jehovah, God of Hosts.

I have not sat in an assembly of deriders, Nor do I exult, because of thy hand, -- Alone I have sat, For with indignation Thou hast filled me.

Why hath my pain been perpetual? And my wound incurable? It hath refused to be healed, Thou art surely to me as a failing stream, Waters not stedfast.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah: If thou turnest back, then I bring thee back, Before Me thou dost stand, And if thou bringest out the precious from the vile, As My mouth thou art! They -- they turn back unto thee, And thou dost not turn back unto them.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

For thus said Jehovah: Do not enter the house of a mourning-feast, Nor go to lament nor bemoan for them, For I have removed My peace from this people, An affirmation of Jehovah, The kindness and the mercies.

Then thou hast said unto them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And Me have forsaken, and My law not kept,

Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me.

For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes.

And I have recompensed a first -- A second time -- their iniquity and their sin, Because of their polluting My land, With the carcase of their detestable things, Yea, their abominable things have filled Mine inheritance.

O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable.

Therefore, lo, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My name is Jehovah!

O My mountain in the field -- thy strength, All thy treasures -- for a prey I give, Thy high places for sin in all thy borders.

The hope of Israel is Jehovah, All forsaking Thee are ashamed, And 'My apostates' in the earth are written, For they have forsaken Jehovah, A fountain of living waters.

Heal me, O Jehovah, and I am healed, Save me, and I am saved, for my praise art Thou.

Lo, they are saying unto me: 'Where is the word of Jehovah? pray, let it come.'

And I hastened not from feeding after Thee, And the desperate day I have not desired, Thou -- Thou hast known, The produce of my lips, before Thy face it hath been,

Be not Thou to me for a terror, My hope art Thou in a day of evil.

Let my pursuers be ashamed, and let not me be ashamed -- me! Let them be affrighted, and let not me be affrighted -- me! Bring in on them a day of evil, And a second time with destruction destroy them.

Thus said Jehovah unto me: 'Go, and thou hast stood in the gate of the sons of the people, by which kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all gates of Jerusalem,

And it hath been, if ye certainly hearken unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, So as not to bring in a burden By the gates of this city on the day of rest, And to sanctify the day of rest, So as not to do in it any work --

And if ye do not hearken unto me to sanctify the day of rest, And so as not to bear a burden, And to come in at the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest, Then I have kindled a fire in its gates, And it hath consumed the high places of Jerusalem, And it is not quenched!'

Rise, and thou hast gone down to the potter's house, and there I cause thee to hear My words;

And there is a word of Jehovah to me, saying:

As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.

And it hath done the evil thing in Mine eyes, So as not to hearken to My voice, Then I have repented of the good That I have spoken of doing to it.

But My people have forgotten Me, to a vain thing they make perfume, And they cause them to stumble in their ways -- paths of old, To walk in paths -- a way not raised up,

Give attention, O Jehovah, unto me, And hearken to the voice of those contending with me.

Is evil recompensed instead of good, That they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember my standing before Thee to speak good of them, To turn back Thy wrath from them.

A cry is heard from their houses, For Thou bringest against them suddenly a troop, For they dug a pit to capture me, And snares they have hidden for my feet.

And Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast known, All their counsel against me is for death, Thou dost not cover over their iniquity, Nor their sin from before Thee blottest out, And they are made to stumble before Thee, In the time of Thine anger work against them!

because that they have forsaken Me, and make known this place, and make perfume in it to other gods, that they knew not, they and their fathers, and the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place with innocent blood,

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire, burnt-offerings to Baal, that I commanded not, nor spake of, nor did it come up on My heart.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am bringing in unto this city, and on all its cities, all the evil that I have spoken against it, for they have hardened their neck -- not to hear My words!'

Thou hast persuaded me, O Jehovah, and I am persuaded; Thou hast hardened me, and dost prevail, I have been for a laughter all the day, Every one is mocking at me,

Because from the time I speak I cry out, 'Violence and destruction,' I cry, For the word of Jehovah hath been to me For reproach and for derision all the day.

And I said, 'I do not mention Him, Nor do I speak any more in His name,' And it hath been in my heart As a burning fire shut up in my bones, And I have been weary of containing, And I am not able.

For I have heard the evil report of many, Fear is round about: 'Declare, and we declare it,' All mine allies are watching for my halting, 'Perhaps he is enticed, and we prevail over him, And we take our vengeance out of him.'

And Jehovah is with me, as a terrible mighty one, Therefore my persecutors stumble and prevail not, They have been exceedingly ashamed, For they have not acted wisely, Confusion age-during is not forgotten.

And, O Jehovah of Hosts, trier of the righteous, Beholder of reins and heart, I do see Thy vengeance out of them, For unto Thee I have revealed my cause.

Cursed is the day in which I was born, The day that my mother bare me, Let it not be blessed!

Cursed is the man who bore tidings to my father, saying, 'Born to thee hath been a child -- a male,' Making him very glad!

Because he hath not put me to death from the womb, And my mother is to me -- my grave, And her womb a pregnancy age-during.