So I said,“ Oh, my dear people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now that destructive army will come against us.”

我民哪，应当腰束麻布，滚在灰中。你要悲伤，如丧独生子痛痛哭号，因为灭命的要忽然临到我们。

我的百姓啊，应当腰束麻布，滚在灰中。要悲伤，如丧独子般痛痛哭号，因为灭命的忽然临到我们。

我的百姓啊，应当腰束麻布，滚在灰中。要悲伤，如丧独子般痛痛哭号，因为灭命的忽然临到我们。

百姓啊，你们要身披麻布，在灰中打滚；你们要悲伤痛哭，如丧独子，因为毁灭者将突然临到我们。

我的同胞（“同胞”原文作“人民的女子”）啊！应当披上麻布，在灰尘中打滚，悲哀如丧独生子，号咷痛哭，因为有行毁灭的会突然攻击我们。

我民哪，應當腰束麻布，滾在灰中。你要悲傷，如喪獨生子痛痛哭號，因為滅命的要忽然臨到我們。

我的百姓啊，應當腰束麻布，滾在灰中。要悲傷，如喪獨子般痛痛哭號，因為滅命的忽然臨到我們。

我的百姓啊，應當腰束麻布，滾在灰中。要悲傷，如喪獨子般痛痛哭號，因為滅命的忽然臨到我們。

百姓啊，你們要身披麻布，在灰中打滾；你們要悲傷痛哭，如喪獨子，因為毀滅者將突然臨到我們。

我的同胞（“同胞”原文作“人民的女子”）啊！應當披上麻布，在灰塵中打滾，悲哀如喪獨生子，號咷痛哭，因為有行毀滅的會突然攻擊我們。

我的人民哪，當腰束麻布，在爐灰中打滾；要舉行哀悼、如喪獨生子一樣，苦苦地號咷一頓，因為有毁滅者要突然襲擊我們了。

我民女歟、爾其束麻、輾轉灰塵、爾其舉哀、號咷痛哭、若喪獨子、蓋殘賊者將倏然臨我、

殘賊猝至、民必衣麻、坐於塗炭、舉哀甚慘、若喪獨子。

我民歟、當衣麻輾轉於塵埃、舉哀痛哭、若喪獨子、蓋殘殺毀滅者、忽至而攻我儕、

Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

My people, put on the clothes of sadness. Roll among the ashes. Mourn with bitter weeping just as you would mourn for an only son. The one who is going to destroy us will come suddenly.

O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A most bitter mourning. For suddenly the destroyer Will come against us.

O daughter of my people, Dress in sackcloth And roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

O daughter of my people, gird[ thee] with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning,[ as for] an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.

“ I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.

So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying,‘ The fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us!’”

They will lament loudly over you and cry bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in the ashes;they will tear out their hair because of you and put on sackcloth, and they will weep bitterly over you with intense mourning.

The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.כ( Kaf)

The punishment of my people exceeded that of of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her.ז( Zayin)

A destructive army will come marching over the hilltops in the desert. For the LORD will use them as his destructive weapon against everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe.

But if you will not pay attention to this warning, I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride. I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears because you, the LORD’s flock, will be carried into exile.”

My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares.ל( Lamed)

“ Tell these people this, Jeremiah:‘ My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. For my people, my dear children, have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound.

My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.There is still medicinal ointment available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! Why then have my dear people not been restored to health?( 8: 23) I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.

Those who have been killed by the LORD at that time will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery.

I see one destruction after another taking place, so that the whole land lies in ruins. I see our tents suddenly destroyed, their curtains torn down in a mere instant.

At that time the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth.

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say,‘ Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right!

So this sin will become your downfall. You will be like a high wall that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse; it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.

Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the desert.ד( Dalet)

I will turn your festivals into funerals, and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes and cause every head to be shaved bald. I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.

Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you.

I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one in sight who can comfort me or encourage me. My children are desolated because an enemy has prevailed.פ( Pe)

Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.ע( Ayin)

For this reason I will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot and without my outer garments. I will howl like a wild dog, and screech like an owl.For Samaria’s disease is incurable. It has infected Judah; it has spread to the leadership of my people and has even contaminated Jerusalem!Don’t spread the news in Gath! Don’t shed even a single tear! In Beth Leaphrah sit in the dust!

Their widows will become in my sight more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashores. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men. I will cause anguish and terror to fall suddenly upon them.

So I say:“ Don’t look at me! I am weeping bitterly. Don’t try to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.”

She weeps bitterly at night; tears stream down her cheeks. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.ג( Gimel)

“ At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be told,‘ A scorching wind will sweep down from the hilltops in the desert on my dear people. It will not be a gentle breeze for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.

I hear my dear people crying out throughout the length and breadth of the land. They are crying,‘ Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her divine King no longer there?’” The LORD answers,“ Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

Tremble, you complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves– put sackcloth on your waist!

The LORD who rules over all told me to say to this people,“ Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”I said,“ Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion. They will wail,‘ We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced! For our houses have been torn down and we must leave our land.’”I said,“ So now, you wailing women, hear what the LORD says. Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor this lament.‘ Death has climbed in through our windows. It has entered into our fortified houses. It has taken away our children who play in the streets. It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’Tell your daughters and neighbors,‘ The LORD says,“ The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’”

As he approached the town gate, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother( who was a widow), and a large crowd from the town was with her.

I said,“ I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains, I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone.”

Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan– each one for his iniquity.All of their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine.They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald.

Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair.