16. “Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’ Proclaim against Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’
17. Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me,” declares Yahweh.
18. “You obtained this for yourself because of your way and your deeds. This is your doom, for it is bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart.”
19. My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war.
20. Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.
21. How long must I see the banner, and hear the sound of a horn?
22. “For my people are foolish, they have not known me. They are foolish children, and they do not have insight. They are skillful at doing evil, and they do not know how to do good.”
23. I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness, and to the heavens, and they were without their light.
24. I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.
25. I looked and behold, there was no person, and all of the birds of the sky had fled.
26. I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh, before the face of his burning anger.
27. For thus says Yahweh, “All of the land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete desolation.
28. Because of this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will become dark. Because I have spoken, I have planned, and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.”