13 How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem?
    What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion?
    Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.

14 Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.
    They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.
    Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.

15 Astonished, passersby can’t believe what they see.
    They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem.
    Is this the city voted “Most Beautiful” and “Best Place to Live”?

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13 What can I say for you?(A)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter(B) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?(C)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.(D)
    Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets
    were false(E) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
    to ward off your captivity.(F)
The prophecies they gave you
    were false and misleading.(G)

15 All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;(H)
they scoff(I) and shake their heads(J)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:(K)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,(L)
    the joy of the whole earth?”(M)

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