3. O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4. Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God:
5. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7. How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots’ houses.
8. They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9. Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10. Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah’s.
11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah.
12. They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13. and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14. Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.