17. This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “Now think about these things! Call for the women who get paid to cry at funerals. Send for the people who are good at that job.
18. The people say, ‘Let those women come quickly and cry for us. Then our eyes will fill with tears that flow over our eyelids like streams of water.’
19. “The sound of loud crying is heard from Zion: ‘We are really ruined! We are so ashamed! We must leave our land, because our houses have been destroyed. Now our houses are only piles of rock.’”
20. Now, women of Judah, listen to the message from the Lord. Listen to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters how to cry loudly. Each of them must learn to sing this funeral song:
21. “Death has climbed in through our windows and has come into our palaces. Death has come to our children who play in the streets and to the young men who meet in the public places.”
22. This is what you should say: “The Lord says, ‘Dead bodies will lie in the fields like dung. Their bodies will lie on the ground like grain a farmer has cut. But there will be no one to gather them.’”
23. This is what the Lord says: “The wise must not brag about their wisdom. The strong men must not brag about their strength. The rich must not brag about their money.
24. But if someone wants to brag, then let them brag about this: Let them brag that they learned to know me. Let them brag that they understand that I am the Lord, that I am kind and fair, and that I do good things on earth. I love this kind of bragging.” This message is from the Lord.
25. This is what the Lord says: “The time is coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the body.