17. Like keepers of a field are they against her all around,because she has rebelled against me,declares the Lord.
18. Your ways and your deedshave brought this upon you.This is your doom, and it is bitter;it has reached your very heart.”
19. My 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. Crash follows hard on crash;the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste,my curtains in a moment.
21. How long must I see the standardand hear the sound of the trumpet?
22. “For my people are foolish;they know me not;they are stupid children;they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!But how to do good they know not.”
23. I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24. I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,and all the hills moved to and fro.
25. I looked, and behold, there was no man,and all the birds of the air had fled.
26. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,and all its cities were laid in ruinsbefore the Lord, before his fierce anger.
27. For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
28. “For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark;for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”