15 Listen and pay attention. The Lord has spoken to you. Do not be proud.
16 Honor the Lord your God. Praise him or he will bring darkness. Praise him before you fall on the dark hills. You people of Judah are hoping for light, but the Lord will turn the light into thick darkness. He will change it into the deepest gloom.
17 If you people of Judah don’t listen to him, I will hide and cry. Your pride will cause me to cry. I will cry very hard. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord’S flock will be captured.
18 Tell these things to the king and his wife, “Come down from your thrones. Your beautiful crowns have fallen from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev are locked. No one can open them. All the people of Judah have been taken away as captives. They were carried away as prisoners.
20 Jerusalem, look! The enemy is coming from the north! Where is the flock you were once in charge of? That beautiful flock is gone now.
21 I will let your enemies become your rulers— people you once trusted with your secrets. What will you say then? Surely you will feel great pain, like a woman giving birth.