17. The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem as men guard a field,because Judah turned against me,’ ” says the Lord.
18. “The way you have lived and actedhas brought this trouble to you.This is your punishment.How terrible it is!The pain stabs your heart!”
19. Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt!I am bent over in pain.Oh, the torture in my heart!My heart is pounding inside me.I cannot keep quiet,because I have heard the sound of the trumpet.I have heard the shouts of war.
20. Disaster follows disaster;the whole country has been destroyed.My tents are destroyed in only a moment.My curtains are torn down quickly.
21. How long must I look at the war flag?How long must I listen to the war trumpet?
22. The Lord says, “My people are foolish.They do not know me.They are stupid children;they don’t understand.They are skillful at doing evil,but they don’t know how to do good.”
23. I looked at the earth,and it was empty and had no shape.I looked at the sky,and its light was gone.
24. I looked at the mountains,and they were shaking.All the hills were trembling.
25. I looked, and there were no people.Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26. I looked, and the good, rich land had become a desert.All its towns had been destroyedby the Lord and his great anger.
27. This is what the Lord says:“All the land will be ruined,but I will not completely destroy it.
28. So the people in the land will cry loudly,and the sky will grow dark,because I have spoken and will not change my mind.I have made a decision, and I will not change it.”
29. At the sound of the horsemen and the archers,all the people in the towns run away.They hide in the thick bushesand climb up into the rocks.All of the cities of Judah are empty;no one lives in them.
30. Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing?Why do you put on your finest dressand decorate yourself with gold jewelry?Why do you put color around your eyes?You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless.Your lovers hate you;they want to kill you.
31. I hear a cry like a woman having a baby,distress like a woman having her first child.It is the sound of Jerusalem gasping for breath.She lifts her hands in prayer and says,“Oh! I am about to faintbefore my murderers!”