4 I have decided never to return to that town. I am going to stay here in constant mourning, neither eating nor drinking anything until I die.”
5 When she told me this, I put aside my own thoughts and spoke sharply to her:
6 “You are the most foolish woman I ever met. Don't you see what our people are suffering? Don't you know all that has happened to us?
7 Jerusalem, the mother of us all, is overcome with grief and shame. You ought to be mourning for her
8 and sharing the grief and sorrow of all of us. But you are mourning for that one son of yours.
9 Ask the earth; let her tell you that she is the one who ought to be mourning for the vast multitudes of people that she has brought to birth.
10 All of us who are living came originally from her, and there are more to come. Almost all of us go straight to destruction — the vast multitude of earth's children are lost.