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.”
29. From the sound of a horseman and an archer every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb. Every town is forsaken, and there is no person who lives in them.
30. And you, O devastated one, what do you do, that you put on crimson, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers reject you; they seek your life.
31. For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like a woman who bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: “Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers.”