²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbor a dirge.
²¹ For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(A)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²² Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^(B)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(C)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”