²⁴ We have heard reports about them.
    And our hands can’t help us.
We are suffering greatly.
    It’s like the pain of a woman having a baby.
²⁵ Don’t go out to the fields.
    Don’t walk on the roads.
Our enemies have swords.
    And there is terror on every side.
²⁶ My people, put on the clothes of sadness.
    Roll among the ashes.
Mourn with bitter weeping
    just as you would mourn for an only son.
The one who is going to destroy us
    will come suddenly.