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13 To what can I compare you[a]—to what can I liken you—
    O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I give in order to comfort you,
    virgin daughter Zion?
For your breach is vast as the sea;
    who could heal you?(A)

14 Your prophets provided you visions
    of whitewashed illusion;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
    in order to restore your fortunes;
They saw for you only oracles
    of empty deceit.(B)

15 All who pass by on the road,
    clap their hands at you;
They hiss and wag their heads
    over daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city they used to call
    perfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 2:13 To what can I compare you…?: the author calls attention to the poetic task: to find language that speaks adequately of the atrocities and incomparable suffering experienced by Zion, and thus to attempt to offer comfort.