When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. So the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

“When I expected good, then evil came;
When I waited for light, then darkness came.

Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

We waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!

Have You completely rejected Judah?
Or have You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing?
We waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

But

For her

wound is incurable,

For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.

The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.

If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?

General references

Desolation is left in the city
And the gate is battered to ruins.

We waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!