Jeremiah 4:19–31

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! 

I writhe in pain. 

My heart is beating wildly! 

My heart is pounding! 

I can’t keep quiet 

because I hear a ram’s horn sounding the alarm for war. 

²⁰One disaster follows another. 

The whole land is ruined. 

My tents are suddenly destroyed. 

Their curtains are torn in an instant. 

²¹How long must I see the battle flag and hear the sound of rams’ horns? 

²²“My people are fools. They don’t know me. 

They are stupid people. They don’t understand. 

They are experts in doing wrong, 

and they don’t know how to do good.” 

²³I see the earth. It’s formless and empty. 

I see the sky. Its lights are gone. 

²⁴I see the mountains. They are shaking, 

and the hills are swaying. 

²⁵I see that there are no people, 

and every bird has flown away. 

²⁶I see that the fertile land has become a desert, 

and all its cities are torn down 

because of the Lord and his burning anger. 

²⁷This is what the Lord says: 

The whole earth will be ruined, 

although I will not destroy it completely. 

²⁸The earth will mourn, and the sky will grow black. 

I have spoken, and I have planned it. 

I won’t change my plans, and I won’t turn back. 

²⁹All the people in the city will flee 

at the sound of riders and archers. 

They will go off into the thickets 

and climb among the rocks. 

The entire city will be abandoned, and no one will live in it. 

³⁰You are going to be destroyed! 

What are you going to do? 

Why do you dress in red and put on gold jewelry? 

Why do you wear eye shadow? 

You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. 

Your lovers reject you; they want to kill you. 

³¹I hear a woman in labor. 

I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. 

My people Zion are gasping for breath. 

They are stretching out their hands, saying, 

“How horrible it is for us! 

We’re defenseless in the presence of murderers!”