The Prophet's Anguish and Cosmic Judgment

19

My guts! My guts! I'm writhing in pain! My heart! It beats wildly - I can't stay still! - because I have heard the shofar sound; it's the call to war.

20

The news is disaster after disaster! All the land is ruined! My tents are suddenly destroyed, my tent curtains in an instant.

21

How long must I see that signal and hear the shofar sound?

22

"It is because my people are foolish - they do not know me; they are stupid children, without understanding, wise when doing evil; but they don't know how to do good."

23

I looked at the land - it was unformed and void - and at the sky - it had no light.

24

I looked at the mountains, and they shook - all the hills moved back and forth.

25

I looked, and there was no human being; all the birds in the air had fled.

26

I looked, and the fertile fields were a desert, all the land's cities were razed to the ground at the presence of ADONAI, before his burning anger.

27

For here is what ADONAI says: "The whole land will be desolate (although I will not destroy it completely).

28

Because of this, the land will mourn and the sky above be black; for I have spoken, I have decided, I will not change my mind, I will not turn back."

29

At the noise of the horsemen and archers, the entire city flees - some plunge into thickets; others climb rocks; all cities are deserted; no one lives there.

30

And you, who are doomed to be plundered, what do you mean by putting on crimson, decking yourselves with jewels and gold, enlarging your eyes with eye make-up? You beautify yourself in vain - your lovers despise you, they seek your life!

31

For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor, in anguish giving birth to her first child. It is the sound of the daughter of Tziyon gasping for breath as she spreads her hands: "Woe to me! Everything in me is so weary before the killers."

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