18. “The way you have lived and actedhas brought this trouble to you.This is your punishment.How terrible it is!The pain stabs your heart!”
19. Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt!I am bent over in pain.Oh, the torture in my heart!My heart is pounding inside me.I cannot keep quiet,because I have heard the sound of the trumpet.I have heard the shouts of war.
20. Disaster follows disaster;the whole country has been destroyed.My tents are destroyed in only a moment.My curtains are torn down quickly.
21. How long must I look at the war flag?How long must I listen to the war trumpet?
22. The Lord says, “My people are foolish.They do not know me.They are stupid children;they don’t understand.They are skillful at doing evil,but they don’t know how to do good.”
23. I looked at the earth,and it was empty and had no shape.I looked at the sky,and its light was gone.
24. I looked at the mountains,and they were shaking.All the hills were trembling.
25. I looked, and there were no people.Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26. I looked, and the good, rich land had become a desert.All its towns had been destroyedby the Lord and his great anger.
27. This is what the Lord says:“All the land will be ruined,but I will not completely destroy it.