²⁹ At the sound of the horsemen and the archers,
    all the people in the towns run away.
They hide in the thick bushes
    and climb up into the rocks.
All of the cities of Judah are empty;
    no one lives in them.
³⁰ Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing?
    Why do you put on your finest dress
    and decorate yourself with gold jewelry?
Why do you put color around your eyes?
    You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless.
Your lovers hate you;
    they want to kill you.

³¹ I hear a cry like a woman having a baby,
    distress like a woman having her first child.
It is the sound of Jerusalem gasping for breath.
    She lifts her hands in prayer and says,
“Oh! I am about to faint
    before my murderers!”