My eyes have no more tears, and I am sick to my stomach. I feel empty inside, because my people have been destroyed. Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city.
Your people have become weak. They fall down and lie on every street corner, like animals caught in a net. They have felt the full anger of the Lord and have heard God’s angry shout.
“Jeremiah, speak this message to the people of Judah: ‘Let my eyes be filled with tears night and day, without stopping. My people have received a terrible blow; they have been hurt badly.
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.
“Now the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off the men and women, children and babies from the family of Judah, leaving yourselves without anyone from the family of Judah.
Listen to the sound of my people. They cry from a faraway land: “Isn’t the Lord still in Jerusalem? Isn’t Jerusalem’s king still there?” But God says, “Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols, useless foreign idols?”
All of Jerusalem’s people groan, looking for bread. They are trading their precious things for food so they can stay alive. The city says, “Look, Lord, and see. I am hated.”
“I cry about these things; my eyes overflow with tears. There is no one near to comfort me, no one who can give me strength again. My children are left sad and lonely, because the enemy has won.”
“Look at me, Lord. I am upset and greatly troubled. My heart is troubled, because I have been so stubborn. Out in the streets, the sword kills; inside the houses, death destroys.