<p class="bodytext">You also do this: You cover the altar of the <sc>Lordsc> with tears<n id="1" /> as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Throughout each and every province where the king&#8217;s edict and law were announced<n id="1" /> there was considerable<n id="2" /> mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow.<n id="3" /> Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic<n id="4" /> of many.

<p class="poetry">My heart cries out because of Moab&#8217;s plight,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and for the fugitives<n id="2" /> stretched out<n id="3" /> as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah.p> <p class="poetry">For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith;p> <p class="poetry">they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will weep and mourn<n id="2" /> for the grasslands on the mountains,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">because they are so scorched no one travels through them.p> <p class="poetry">The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.p> <p class="poetry">Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fieldsp> <p class="poetry">have fled and are gone.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">They will come back shedding tears of contrition.p> <p class="poetry">I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will lead them besides streams of water,p> <p class="poetry">along smooth paths where they will never stumble.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will do this because I am Israel&#8217;s father;p> <p class="poetry">Ephraim<n id="3" /> is my firstborn son.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;A sound is heard in Ramah,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">a sound of crying in bitter grief.p> <p class="poetry">It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her childrenp> <p class="poetry">and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmahp> <p class="poetry">just like the town of Jazer weeps over them.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They reached as far as the town of Jazer.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The destroyer will ravagep> <p class="poetry">her fig, date,<n id="4" /> and grape crops.p>