17 Commander-in-chief Yahweh says this:

Consider that and summon funeral wailers to come—

≈ get the most skillful women to come.

18 Let them hurry and start wailing about us,

→ so our eyes have tears running down them,

≈ and our eyelids flow with water,

19 because the sound of mourning can be heard from Tsiyyon (Zion):

‘We’ve been so devastated.

We’re terribly ashamed, because we’ve left the land

because they tore down our houses.’

20 So now hear Yahweh’s message, you women.

≈ Let your ear receive the message from his mouth,

and teach your daughters a mourning song,

≈ and each woman teach her neighbour a funeral song,

21 because death has come up into our windows.

≈ It enters into our fortresses,

cutting off children from the street

≈ and young men from the open plazas.

22 Yahweh says to pass this on:

Human corpses will fall like dung across the ground’s surface

and like fallen grain after the harvesters have finished,

and there’s no one to collect them.

23 Yahweh says this:

Don’t let the wise person boast about their wisdom,

≈ and don’t let the warrior boast about his strength.

≈ Don’t let the rich person boast about their riches,

24 because if they want to boast, let them boast about this:

Understanding and knowing me because I’m Yahweh,

demonstrating loyal commitment, justice, and righteousness on the earth

because I take pleasure in those things.[ref]

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

25 Listen, Yahweh declares that there’s a time coming

when I will punish all those who’ve been physically circumcised:

26 the Egyptians, Judeans, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites,

and all those who trim the corners of their beards, those living in the wilderness,

because all the uncircumcised nations and all the Israelis have uncircumcised hearts.