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Jeremiah Weeps for His People

10 I weep for the pastureland
    in the hill country.
It's so barren and scorched
    that no one travels there.
No cattle can be found there,
and birds and wild animals
    have all disappeared.

11 I heard the Lord reply,
    “When I am finished,
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah
will be piles of ruins
    where only jackals[a] live.”

Why the Land Was Destroyed

12 I said to the Lord, “None of us can understand why the land has become like an uncrossable desert. Won't you explain why?”

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Footnotes

  1. 9.11 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller.

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.(A)
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds(B) have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap(C) of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;(D)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah(E)
    so no one can live there.”(F)

12 Who is wise(G) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

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