Jeremiah 4:19-31
New Catholic Bible
19 How great is my anguish
that causes me to writhe in pain!
I cannot keep silent in my agony
as my heart beats wildly.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet
and that of the battle cry.
20 One disaster follows upon another;
the entire land lies in ruins.
My tents are suddenly destroyed,
everything that offered me shelter.
21 How long must I see the standard raised
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children
who have no semblance of understanding.
They are skilled in the practice of evil
but they do not know how to do good.
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was a formless wasteland;
I gazed at the heavens,
but I could not discern any light.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking,
while all the hills moved back and forth.
25 I looked, but I could not see anyone;
even the birds of the air had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fertile land had become a desert;
all of its towns lay in ruins
before the Lord, before his blazing anger.
27 Thus says the Lord:
The entire land will be a desolate waste,
but I will not destroy it completely.
28 Because of this the earth will mourn
and the heavens above will grow dark.
For I have spoken and made clear my intention,
and I will not relent or turn back.
29 At the shouts of horsemen and archers
every city takes to flight.
Some people crawl into the thickets
while others scale the rocks.
All the cities are abandoned,
with no one to live in them.
30 What are you doing, you who are doomed,
by clothing yourself in purple,
adorning yourself with ornaments of gold
and shading your eyes with cosmetics?
You are beautifying yourself in vain,
for your lovers despise you,
and they only seek your life.
31 I hear cries like those of a woman in labor,
the anguished groans of one bearing her first child.
They are the screams of daughter Zion gasping for breath
as she stretches forth her hands and cries out,
“Woe is me; I am dying.
I sink exhausted before my murderers.”
