Its opponents are now in control. Its enemies have no worries. The Lord made Zion suffer for its many rebellious acts. Its children go ahead of their opponents into captivity.
The Almighty Lord of Armies has chosen a special day. It will be a day of confusion and trampling in the valley of Vision, ⌞a day of⌟ tearing down walls and crying for help in the mountains.
My tent is destroyed, and all my ropes are broken. My children have left me and have disappeared. There’s no one to set up my tent again or put up my tent curtains.
“⌞Say this⌟ about the prophets of Jerusalem: I see something horrible. The prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery and live a lie. They support those who do evil so that no one turns back from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me, and those who live in Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
I’m crying because of ⌞all⌟ these things. My eyes—my eyes flow with tears. No one can give me the comfort I need to keep me alive. Everyone is too far away from me. My children are devastated because my enemies have won.”
“The Lord is right in what he did, because I rebelled against his word. Please listen, all you people, and look at my pain. My young women and young men have gone into captivity.
Jerusalem has sinned so much that it has become a filthy thing. Everyone who used to honor it now despises it. They’ve seen it naked. Jerusalem groans and turns away.
The Lord has accomplished what he had planned to do. He carried out the threat he announced long ago. He tore you down without any pity, ⌞Jerusalem⌟. He made your enemies gloat over you. He raised the weapons of your opponents.
He answered me, “The wickedness of the nations of Israel and Judah is terrible. The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with wrongdoing. They think that the Lord has abandoned the land and that he doesn’t see.
I know that after I die you will become thoroughly corrupt and turn from the way I have commanded you to live. In the days to come disasters will happen to you because you will make the Lord furious by doing what he considers evil.”