Jeremiah 4:11-26

New International Version - UK

¹³ Look! He advances like the clouds,
    his chariots come like a whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles.
    Woe to us! We are ruined!
¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
    How long will you harbour wicked thoughts?
¹⁵ A voice is announcing from Dan,
    proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
¹⁶ ‘Tell this to the nations,
    proclaim concerning Jerusalem:
“A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
    raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ They surround her like men guarding a field,
    because she has rebelled against me,”’
declares the Lord.
¹⁸ ‘Your own conduct and actions
    have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
    How bitter it is!
    How it pierces to the heart!’

¹⁹ Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
    I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
    My heart pounds within me,
    I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
    I have heard the battle cry.
²⁰ Disaster follows disaster;
    the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
    my shelter in a moment.
²¹ How long must I see the battle standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²² ‘My people are fools;
    they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
    they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
    they know not how to do good.’

²³ I looked at the earth,
    and it was formless and empty;
and at the heavens,
    and their light was gone.
²⁴ I looked at the mountains,
    and they were quaking;
    all the hills were swaying.
²⁵ I looked, and there were no people;
    every bird in the sky had flown away.
²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
    all its towns lay in ruins
    before the Lord, before his fierce anger.