Jeremiah 4:19–31

Anguish over Judah’s Desolation

^19aMy ¹soul, my ²soul! I am in anguish! ³Oh, my heart!

My ^bheart is pounding in me;

I cannot be silent

Because ⁴you have heard, O my soul,

The ^csound of the trumpet,

The shout of war.

^20aDestruction upon destruction is called out,

For the ^bwhole land is devastated;

Suddenly my ^ctents are devastated,

My curtains in an instant.

²¹How long must I see the standard

And hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“^aFor My people are ignorant fools,

They know Me not;

They are simpleminded children

And have no understanding.

They are wise to ^bdo evil,

But to do good they do not know.”

²³I saw on the earth, and behold, it was ^1aformless and void;

And to the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴I saw on the mountains, and behold, they were ^aquaking,

And all the hills ¹moved to and fro.

²⁵I saw, and behold, there was no man,

And all the ^abirds of the sky had fled.

²⁶I saw, and behold, ¹the ^afruitful orchard was a wilderness,

And all its cities were torn down

Before Yahweh, before His burning anger.

²⁷For thus says Yahweh,

“The ^awhole land shall be a desolation,

Yet I will ^bnot execute a complete destruction.

²⁸“For this the ^aearth shall mourn

And the ^bheavens above be dark

Because I have ^cspoken; I have purposed,

And I will not ¹relent, nor will I turn from it.”

²⁹At the sound of the horseman and bowman ^aevery city flees;

They ^bgo into the thickets and climb up among the rocks;

^cEvery city is forsaken,

And no man inhabits them.

³⁰And you, O devastated one, ^awhat will you do?

Although you dress in scarlet,

Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,

Although you ^benlarge your eyes with paint,

In vain you make yourself beautiful.

Your ^1clovers despise you;

They seek your life.

³¹For I heard a sound as of a woman in labor pains,

The distress as of one giving birth to her first child,

The sound of the daughter of Zion ^agasping for breath,

^bStretching out her ¹hands, saying,

“Ah, woe is me, for my soul faints before murderers.”