He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing,

The Sovereign LORD Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth.

The old people no longer sit at the city gate, and the young people no longer make music.

Happiness has gone out of our lives; grief has taken the place of our dances.

In those foreign lands they will not be able to make wine offerings to the LORD or bring their sacrifices to him. Their food will defile everyone who eats it, like food eaten at funerals. It will be used only to satisfy their hunger; none of it will be taken as an offering to the LORD's Temple.

On that day the songs in the palace will become cries of mourning. There will be dead bodies everywhere. They will be cast out in silence."

Then you will say to yourself, 'Who bore all these children for me? I lost my children and could have no more. I was exiled and driven away--- who brought these children up? I was left all alone--- where did these children come from?' "