18. “You brought this on yourself.This is your punishment.It is bitter.It breaks your heart.”
19. My anguish, my anguish!I writhe in pain.My heart is beating wildly!My heart is pounding!I can’t keep quietbecause I hear a ram’s horn sounding the alarm for war.
20. One disaster follows another.The whole land is ruined.My tents are suddenly destroyed.Their curtains are torn in an instant.
21. How 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.”
23. I see the earth. It’s formless and empty.I see the sky. Its lights are gone.
24. I see the mountains. They are shaking,and the hills are swaying.
25. I see that there are no people,and every bird has flown away.
26. I see that the fertile land has become a desert,and all its cities are torn downbecause of the Lord and his burning anger.
27. This is what the Lord says:The whole earth will be ruined,although I will not destroy it completely.
28. The 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.
29. All the people in the city will fleeat the sound of riders and archers.They will go off into the thicketsand climb among the rocks.The entire city will be abandoned, and no one will live in it.
30. You 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.
31. I 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!”