Jeremiah 4:19-28

New King James Version

Sorrow for the Doomed Nation

¹⁹O my ^(A)soul, my soul!
I am pained in my very heart!
My heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
²⁰^(B)Destruction upon destruction is cried,
For the whole land is plundered.
Suddenly ^(C)my tents are plundered,
And my curtains in a moment.
²¹How long will I see the ^[a]standard,
And hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are ^[b]silly children,
And they have no understanding.
^(D)They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.”

²³^(E)I beheld the earth, and indeed it was ^(F)without form, and void;
And the heavens, they had no light.
²⁴^(G)I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
And all the hills moved back and forth.
²⁵I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
And ^(H)all the birds of the heavens had fled.
²⁶I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a ^(I)wilderness,
And all its cities were broken down
At the presence of the Lord,
By His fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the Lord:

“The whole land shall be desolate;
^(J)Yet I will not make a full end.
²⁸For this ^(K)shall the earth mourn,
And ^(L)the heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken.
I have ^(M)purposed and ^(N)will not relent,
Nor will I turn back from it.