5. The Lord says,“Who will pity you, people of Jerusalem,and who will grieve over you?Who will stop long enoughto ask how you are?
6. You people have rejected me;you have turned your backs on me.So I stretched out my hand and crushed youbecause I was tired of controlling my anger.
7. In every town in the landI threw you to the wind like straw.I destroyed you, my people,I killed your childrenbecause you did not stop your evil ways.
8. There are more widows in your landthan grains of sand by the sea.I killed your young men in their primeand made their mothers suffer.I suddenly struck themwith anguish and terror.
9. The mother who lost her seven children has fainted,gasping for breath.Her daylight has turned to darkness;she is disgraced and sick at heart.I will let your enemies killthose of you who are still alive.I, the Lord, have spoken.”
10. What an unhappy man I am! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the land. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me.
11. Lord, may all their curses come true if I have not served you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress.
12. (No one can break iron, especially the iron from the north that is mixed with bronze.)