You, LORD, have turned back my warriors and crushed my young heroes. Judah was a woman untouched, but you let her be trampled like grapes in a wine-pit.
Jeremiah, go and tell the people how you feel about all this. So I told them: “Tears will flood my eyes both day and night, because my nation suffers from a deadly wound.
The people of Jerusalem say, “King Nebuchadnezzar made us panic. That monster stuffed himself with us and our treasures, leaving us empty— he gobbled up what he wanted and spat out the rest.
Your anger against Judah flames up inside me, and I can't hold it in much longer. Don't hold back my anger! Let it sweep away everyone— the children at play and all adults, young and old alike.
They are a field of ripe crops. Bring in the harvest! They are grapes piled high. Start trampling them now! If our enemy's sins were wine, every jar would overflow.
Some of them will be killed by swords. Others will be carried off to foreign countries. Jerusalem will be overrun by foreign nations until their time comes to an end.
You will work hard on your farms, but everything you harvest will be eaten by foreigners, who will ill-treat you and abuse you for the rest of your life.
But it is much worse to dishonour God's Son and to disgrace the blood of the promise that made us holy. And it is just as bad to insult the Holy Spirit, who shows us mercy.
From his mouth a sharp sword went out to attack the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod and will show the fierce anger of God All-Powerful by trampling on the grapes in the pit where wine is made.
So the same year that Jair died, Israel's army was crushed by these two nations. For eighteen years, Ammon was cruel to the Israelites who lived in Gilead, the region east of the River Jordan that had once belonged to the Amorites.