17. If you people of Judah don’t listen to him, I will hide and cry. Your pride will cause me to cry. I will cry very hard. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord’S flock will be captured.
18. Tell these things to the king and his wife, “Come down from your thrones. Your beautiful crowns have fallen from your heads.”
19. The cities in the Negev are locked. No one can open them. All the people of Judah have been taken away as captives. They were carried away as prisoners.
20. Jerusalem, look! The enemy is coming from the north! Where is the flock you were once in charge of? That beautiful flock is gone now.
21. I will let your enemies become your rulers— people you once trusted with your secrets. What will you say then? Surely you will feel great pain, like a woman giving birth.
22. You might ask yourself, “Why has this bad thing happened to me?” It happened because of your many sins. Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off, and your sandals were taken away. They did this to embarrass you.
23. A black man cannot change the color of his skin, and a leopard cannot change its spots. In the same way, Jerusalem, you cannot change and do good. You always do bad things.
24. “I will force you to leave your homes. You will run in all directions. You will be like chaff blown away by the desert wind.
25. This is what will happen to you. This is your part in my plans.” This message is from the Lord. “Why will this happen? Because you forgot me. You trusted false gods.
26. Jerusalem, I will pull your skirt up over your face. Everyone will see you, and you will be ashamed.