Daughter Zion cries out

29At the sound of horsemen and archers, the people of every city flee; they go into the thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no one lives there.

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

31For I have heard a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like that of one giving birth to her first child—the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath and spreading out her hands: “Woe to me, for my soul faints before the killers!”