²⁵ In the street the sword will make them childless;
    in their homes terror^(A) will reign.^(B)
The young men and young women will perish,
    the infants and those with gray hair.^(C)

¹⁵ Outside is the sword;
    inside are plague and famine.
Those in the country
    will die by the sword;
those in the city
    will be devoured by famine and plague.^(A)

²⁰ “See, Lord, how distressed^(A) I am!
    I am in torment^(B) within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,^(C)
    for I have been most rebellious.^(D)
Outside, the sword bereaves;
    inside, there is only death.^(E)

⁴ Because of thirst^(A) the infant’s tongue
    sticks to the roof of its mouth;^(B)
the children beg for bread,
    but no one gives it to them.^(C)

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart^(A) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.^(B)
Lift up your hands^(C) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint^(D) from hunger
    at every street corner.

²⁰ “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,^(E)
    the children they have cared for?^(F)
Should priest and prophet be killed^(G)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?^(H)

²¹ “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.^(I)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.^(J)

²² “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors^(K) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped^(L) or survived;
those I cared for and reared^(M)
    my enemy has destroyed.”

²¹ Death has climbed in through our windows^(A)
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men^(B) from the public squares.

¹⁶ You said, ‘No, we will flee^(A) on horses.’^(B)
    Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
    Therefore your pursuers will be swift!