Jeremiah 4:23-31

New American Standard Bible

²³ I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a ^[a](A)formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were ^(B)quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
²⁵ I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the ^(C)birds of the sky had fled.
²⁶ I looked, and behold, ^[b]the ^(D)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.

²⁷ For this is what the Lord says:
“The ^(E)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will ^(F)not execute a complete destruction.
²⁸ For this the ^(G)earth will mourn,
And the ^(H)heavens above will become dark,
Because I have ^(I)spoken, I have purposed,
And I have not ^[c]changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
²⁹ At the sound of the horseman and archer ^(J)every city flees;
They ^(K)go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
^(L)Every city is abandoned,
And no one lives in them.
³⁰ And you, desolate one, ^(M)what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,
Although you ^(N)enlarge your eyes with makeup,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your ^[d](O)lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
³¹ For I heard a voice cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child.
The voice of the daughter of Zion ^(P)gasping for breath,
^(Q)Stretching out her ^[e]hands, saying,
“Ah, woe to me, for ^[f]I faint before murderers.”