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⁹On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded. ¹⁰Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, “It shall be well with you”, even while the sword is at the throat!’

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights^* in the desert towards my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse— ¹²a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgement against them.
¹³ Look! He comes up like clouds,
   his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
   woe to us, for we are ruined!
¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
   so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
   lodge within you?
¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan
   and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶ Tell the nations, ‘Here they are!’
   Proclaim against Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers come from a distant land;
   they shout against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ They have closed in around her like watchers of a field,
   because she has rebelled against me,

says the Lord.
¹⁸ Your ways and your doings
   have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
   It has reached your very heart.’

Sorrow for a Doomed Nation

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
   Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
   I cannot keep silent;
for I^* hear the sound of the trumpet,
   the alarm of war.
²⁰ Disaster overtakes disaster,
   the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
   my curtains in a moment.
²¹ How long must I see the standard,
   and hear the sound of the trumpet?
²² ‘For my people are foolish,
   they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
   they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
   but do not know how to do good.’

²³ I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
   and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
   and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵ I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
   and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶ I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
   and all its cities were laid in ruins
   before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
²⁸ Because of this the earth shall mourn,
   and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
   I have not relented nor will I turn back.