²⁴ We have heard the news about that army.
    We are helpless from fear.
We feel trapped by our troubles.
    We are in pain like a woman having a baby.
²⁵ Don’t go out into the fields.
    Don’t walk down the roads!
This is because the enemy has swords.
    There is terror on every side.
²⁶ My people, put on rough cloth
    and roll in the ashes to show how sad you are.
Cry loudly for those who are dead.
    Cry as if your only son had died.
Do it because the destroyer
    will soon come against us.