21. So this is what the Lord says: “I will give the people of Judah problems. They will be like stones that make people fall. Fathers and sons will stumble over them. Friends and neighbors will die.”
22. This is what the Lord says: “An army is coming from the north. A great nation is coming from faraway places on earth.
23. The soldiers carry bows and spears. They are cruel; they have no mercy. They are so powerful. They sound like the roaring ocean as they ride their horses. That army is coming, ready for battle. It is coming to attack you, Jerusalem.”
24. We have heard the news about that army, and we are paralyzed with fear. We feel trapped by our troubles, in pain like a woman giving birth.
25. Don’t go out into the fields. Don’t go on the roads because the enemy has swords, and there is danger everywhere.