Jeremiah 4:19-31·~1 min

Lamentation for Judah

Jeremiah cries out in bodily anguish as he hears trumpet and war, with disaster following disaster and the whole land laid waste. The LORD explains that this comes because His people are foolish, unknowing, and clever only in doing evil.

M¹⁹y anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! ²⁰Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, ²¹How long must I see the signal flag ²²“For My people are fools;

Looking across the land, Jeremiah sees a scene like creation reversed: the earth is formless, the heavens dark, mountains shaking, no people remain, birds have fled, and the fruitful land has become a desert. The vision conveys the scale of Judah's undoing under the LORD's anger.

²³I looked at the earth, ²⁴I looked at the mountains, ²⁵I looked, and no man was left; ²⁶I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert.

The LORD says the whole land will be desolate, though not brought to a full end, and because He has spoken He will not turn back. Earth and heaven mourn while every city empties in panic before horsemen and archers.

²⁷For this is what the LORD says: ²⁸Therefore the earth will mourn ²⁹Every city flees

Devastated Zion is pictured dressing herself in scarlet and jewelry to win lovers who now despise her and seek her life instead. The chapter ends with a cry like a woman in labor, daughter Zion gasping that she is faint before murderers.

³⁰And you, O devastated one, what will you do, ³¹For I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

Section summaryThe final section breaks into prophetic anguish as Jeremiah hears trumpet and battle and watches the land collapse into something like uncreation. Yet the vision is not total annihilation: the earth mourns, cities empty, and daughter Zion gasps in helpless adornment, but the LORD still says He will not make a full end.

Role in the chapterThis closing section lets the reader feel the cost of the judgment already described. It transforms warning into grief and preserves a narrow thread of restraint within the devastation.