For this reason the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out.

For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

For this is what the Lord God says: “My people went down to Egypt first to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without reason.

And now, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without reason?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually reviled all day long.