Daughter Zion cries out

29At the sound of the horseman and the archer, every city flees; they go into the thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no man dwells in them.

30And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

31For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor, distress like one giving birth to her first child— the sound of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, spreading out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is faint before killers.”