Jeremiah 9:20-22

New International Reader's Version

²⁰ You women, hear the Lord’s message.
    Listen to what he’s saying.
Teach your daughters how to mourn for the dead.
    Teach one another a song of sadness.
²¹ Death has climbed in through our windows.
    It has entered our forts.
Death has removed the children from the streets.
    It has taken the young men out of the market.

“ ‘Dead bodies will be like human waste
    lying in the open fields.
They will lie there like grain
    that is cut down at harvest time.
    No one will gather them up.’ ”