20. Our tents are ruined;the ropes that held them have broken.Our children have all gone away;there is no one left to put up our tents again;there is no one to hang their curtains.”
21. I answered, “Our leaders are stupid;they do not ask the Lord for guidance.This is why they have failed,and our people have been scattered.
22. Listen! News has come!There is a great commotion in a nation to the north;its army will turn the cities of Judah into a desert,a place where jackals live.”
23. Lord, I know that no one is the master of his own destiny;no person has control over his own life.
24. Correct your people, Lord;but do not be too hard on usor punish us when you are angry;that would be the end of us.
25. Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship youand on the people who reject you.They have killed your people;they have destroyed us completelyand left our country in ruins.