Jeremiah 4:19–31

JEREMIAH’S LAMENT

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish!^D I writhe in agony!

Oh, the pain in^E my heart!^d

My heart pounds;

I cannot be silent.

For you, my soul,

have heard the sound of the trumpet—

the shout of battle.

²⁰Disaster after disaster^e is reported

because the whole land is destroyed.

Suddenly my tents are destroyed,

my tent curtains, in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For my people are fools;

they do not know me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.^f

They are skilled in doing what is evil,

but they do not know how to do what is good.”^g

²³I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and empty.^h

I looked to the heavens,

and their light was gone.ⁱ

²⁴I looked at the mountains,

and they were quaking;^j

all the hills shook.

²⁵I looked, and there was no human being,^k

and all the birds of the sky had fled.^l

²⁶I looked, and the fertile field^m was a wilderness.ⁿ

All its cities were torn down

because of the Lord

and his burning anger.^o

²⁷For this is what the Lord says:

“The whole land will be a desolation,^p

but I will not finish it off.^q

²⁸Because of this, the earth will mourn;^r

the skies above will grow dark.^s

I have spoken; I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back from it.”^t

²⁹Every city flees^u

at the sound of the horseman and the archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.^v

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

³⁰And you, devastated one, what are you doing^w

that you dress yourself in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

that you enhance your eyes with makeup?^x

You beautify yourself for nothing.

Your lovers reject you;^y

they intend to take your life.^z

³¹I hear a cry like a woman in labor,^aa

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.

The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands:^ab

“Woe is me, for my life is weary

because of the murderers!”