Jeremiah 4:23-31

23I see the earth. It’s formless and empty. I see the sky. Its lights are gone.

24I see the mountains. They are shaking, and the hills are swaying.

25I see that there are no people, and every bird has flown away.

26I see that the fertile land has become a desert, and all its cities are torn down because of the Lord and his burning anger.

27This is what the Lord says: The whole earth will be ruined, although I will not destroy it completely.

28The earth will mourn, and the sky will grow black. I have spoken, and I have planned it. I won’t change my plans, and I won’t turn back.

29All the people in the city will flee at the sound of riders and archers. They will go off into the thickets and climb among the rocks. The entire city will be abandoned, and no one will live in it.

30You are going to be destroyed! What are you going to do? Why do you dress in red and put on gold jewelry? Why do you wear eye shadow? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to kill you.

31I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion are gasping for breath. They are stretching out their hands, saying, “How horrible it is for us! We’re defenseless in the presence of murderers!”