Jeremiah 4:19-31
Anguish over Judah’s Desolation
19 aMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20 bCrash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
cSuddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
21How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For dmy people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
eThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was fwithout form and void;
gand to the heavens, and they had no light.
24I looked on hthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 iI looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26I looked, and behold, the jfruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before khis fierce anger.
27For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; lyet I will not make a full end.
28 m“For this the earth shall mourn,
nand the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
oI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and pno man dwells in them.
30And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
qthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
rthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
sYour lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31For I heard ta cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
ustretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”
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