1Oh that I had in the midbar
a malon orkhim (travelersʼ lodge);
that I might leave my people,
and go from them!
For they are all no'afim (adulterers),
an atzeret bogedim (band of treacherous traitors).

2And they bend to the ready their leshon like their keshet (bow) for sheker;
but not for emunah have they prevailed in ha'aretz;
for they proceed from ra'ah to ra'ah,
and they know not Me, saith Hashem.

3Be ye shomer every one over his re'a (neighbor, friend)
and trust ye not in kol ach (any brother);
for kol ach will ya'akov (utterly supplant, deceive),
and every re'a (neighbor) will holech rakhil (walk as the slanderer, gossiper).

4And they will deceive every one his re'a,
and will not speak emes;
they have taught their leshon to speak sheker,
and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

5Thine habitation is in the midst of mirmah;
through mirmah they refuse to know Me, saith Hashem.

6Therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
Hineni, I will refine them, and test them;
for what but this
shall I do for the Bat Ami?

7Their leshon is as an arrow shot out;
it speaketh mirmah;
one speaketh shalom to his re'a with his mouth,
but inwardly he lieth in ambush.

8Shall I not visit them [in punishment] for these things? saith Hashem. Shall not My Nefesh be avenged
on such a Goy (nation) as this?

9I take up a weeping and nehi (lamentation) for the harim,
and for the pastures of the midbar a kinah (lamentation),
because they are scorched,
so that none can pass through them;
neither can men hear the voice of the mikneh (cattle);
both the oph haShomayim and the behemah
are fled; they are gone.

10And I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins,
and a ma'on of jackals;
and I will make the towns of Yehudah desolate,
without an inhabitant.

11Who is the ish hechacham (wise man), that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Hashem hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what HaAretz perisheth and is scorched like a midbar, that none passeth through?

12And Hashem saith, Because they have forsaken My torah which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein;

13But have walked after the sherirut (stubbornness) of their own lev, and after Ba'alim, which their avot taught them;

14Therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, the Elohei Yisroel; Hineni, I will make this people eat la'anah (wormwood), and give them poisoned water to drink.

15I will scatter them also among the Goyim, whom neither they nor their avot have known; and I will send a cherev after them, till I have consumed them.

16Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os:
Consider ye, and call for the wailing women, that they may come;
and send for the chachamot (wise women), that they may come;

17And let them make haste,
and take up a nehi (lamentation) for us,
that our eyes may run down with dimah (tears),
and our eyelids gush out with mayim.

18For a sound of nehi (lamentation) is heard from Tziyon:
How are we plundered!
We are greatly ashamed,
because we have forsaken eretz,
because mishkenoteinu have expelled us.

19Yet hear the Devar Hashem, O ye nashim,
and let your ear receive the word of His mouth,
and teach your banot nehi (lamentation),
and everyone her re'a (neighbor) kinah (dirge).

20For mavet (death) is come up into our windows,
and is entered into our fortresses,
to cut off the olal (children) from the street,
and the bochurim from the rechovot.

21Speak: Thus saith Hashem,
Even the nevilah of adam shall fall
like domen (dung) upon the sadeh,
and the omer (sheaf) after the kotzer (harvester),
and none shall gather them.

22Thus saith Hashem, Let not the chacham (wise man) glory in his chochmah, neither let the gibbor (mighty man) glory in his gevurah (might), let not the oisher (rich man) glory in his riches;

23But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am Hashem Who exercises chesed, mishpat, and tzedakah, on ha'aretz; for in these things I delight, saith Hashem.

24Hinei, the yamim come, saith Hashem, that I will punish kol mul b'arlah (all circumcized in arlah [only]);

25Mitzrayim, and Yehudah, and Edom, and the Bnei Ammon, and Moav, and kol ketzutzei pe'ah (all in the farthest corners), that dwell in the midbar; for all these Goyim are uncircumcised, and kol Bais Yisroel are arlei lev (uncircumcised in heart). ²⁶