Charles Spurgeon Commentary Jeremiah 4:22-23

"For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." — Jeremiah 4:22-23 (ASV)

As if they had gone back to chaos – to the primeval darkness – to the first disorder before God began to create.