Jeremiah 4:16-31 ▼

16 Warn the nations: Look! Proclaim to Jerusalem: Those who besiege are coming from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

17 They have her surrounded like those who guard a field, because she has rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

18 Your way and your actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. It is very bitter, because it has reached your heart!

19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony! Oh, the pain in my heart! My heart pounds; I cannot be silent. For you, my soul, have heard the sound of the ram’s horn — the shout of battle.

20 Disaster after disaster is reported because the whole land is destroyed. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains, in a moment.

21 How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?

22 “For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good.”

23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty. I looked to the heavens, and their light was gone.

24 I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills shook.

25 I looked, and there was no human being, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

26 I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness. All its cities were torn down because of the LORD and his burning anger.

27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be a desolation, but I will not finish it off.

28 Because of this, the earth will mourn; the skies above will grow dark. I have spoken; I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.”

29 Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and the archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

30 And you, devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enhance your eyes with makeup? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they intend to take your life.

31 I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers! ”