Jeremiah 4:19-26

English Standard Version

Anguish over Judah's Desolation

¹⁹^(A)My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
    Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
    I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
    the alarm of war.
²⁰^(B)Crash follows hard on crash;
    the whole land is laid waste.
^(C)Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
    my curtains in a moment.
²¹How long must I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For ^(D)my people are foolish;
    they know me not;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
^(E)They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
    But how to do good they know not.”

²³I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^(F)without form and void;
    ^(G)and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on ^(H)the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵^(I)I looked, and behold, there was no man,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, the ^(J)fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the Lord, before ^(K)his fierce anger.