¹⁴ Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,
    that you may be saved.
    How long will you entertain your destructive ideas?

¹⁶ Warn the nations,
    proclaim it to Jerusalem!
        Armies are approaching from a far-away country,
        raising their war cries against the towns of Judah.

²³ I looked at the earth,
    and it was without shape or form;
        at the heavens
        and there was no light.
²⁴ I looked at the mountains
    and they were quaking;
    all the hills were rocking back and forth.
²⁵ I looked and there was no one left;
    every bird in the sky had taken flight.
²⁶ I looked and the fertile land was a desert;
    all its towns were in ruins
        before the Lord,
        before his fury.
²⁷ The Lord proclaims:
    The whole earth will become a desolation,
        but I will not destroy it completely.
²⁸ Therefore, the earth will grieve
    and the heavens grow dark
        because I have declared my plan
        and will neither change my mind
            nor cancel the plan.
²⁹ As the horsemen and archers approach,
    the people take flight.
They hide in the bushes
    and escape to the cliffs.
Every city is deserted;
    no one remains.
³⁰ And you, devastated one,
    why dress up in scarlet,
    deck yourself in gold jewelry,
    and color your eyes with paint?
In vain you get all decked out;
    your lovers have rejected you
    and now seek your life.
³¹ I hear the cry of a woman in labor,
    the distress of one delivering her first child.
It is the cry of Daughter Zion,
    gasping for breath,
    her arms stretched out,
    and moaning,
    “I’m about to fall into the hands of murderers!”