Jeremiah 4:19-31

19My 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.

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

21How 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

28Because 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.”

29Every 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.

30And 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.

31I 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!”