25. From without the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.
26. I said, I would scatter them afar and I would have made the remembrance of them to cease from among men,
27. Had I not feared the provocation of the foe, lest their enemies misconstrue it and lest they should say, Our own hand has prevailed; all this was not the work of the Lord.
28. For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
29. O that they were wise and would see through this [present triumph] to their ultimate fate!