18 Hurry!Let them weep for usso that our eyes fill up with tearsand water streams down.
19 The sound of sobbingis heard from Zion:"We’re devastated!We’re so ashamed!We have to leave the landand abandon our homes!"
20 Women, hear the Lord’s word. Listen closely to the wordfrom his mouth:teach your daughters to mourn;teach each other to grieve.
21 Death has climbed through our windows;it has entered our fortressesto eliminate children from the streets,the youth from the squares.
22 Declare what the Lord says:Dead bodies will lielike dung on the fields,like bundles of grain after the harvest,with no one to pick them up.
23 The Lord proclaims:the learned should not boast of their knowledge,nor warriors boast of their might,nor the rich boast of their wealth.
24 No, those who boast should boast in this:that they understand and know me.I am the Lord who acts with kindness,justice, and righteousness in the world,and I delight in these things,declares the Lord.