18. ‘Why have you brought us out to this desert to kill us? Being slaves to the Egyptians was better than coming here to die.’
19. I was moved by your bitter groans and gave you manna, the bread of angels.
20. When you were thirsty, I split the rock and all the water you needed flowed out. To protect you from the heat, I provided you with shady trees.
21. I divided fertile lands among you and drove out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines, who opposed your advance. What more could I have done for you?
22. “The Lord Almighty says: There in the desert by the river of bitter water when you were thirsty and cursed me,
23. in spite of your insults I did not send fire upon you. Instead, I made the water fit to drink by throwing wood into the river.
24. People of Israel, what can I do with you? People of Judah, you refuse to obey me. So I will turn to other nations and make them my people. They will keep my laws.
25. Because you have abandoned me, I will abandon you. You will beg me for mercy, but I will show you none.
26. When you pray to me, I will not hear you. You never hesitate to commit murder; your hands are stained with the blood of those you have killed.
27. It is not me that you have betrayed; you have betrayed yourselves.
28. “The Lord Almighty says: I have pleaded with you as a father pleads with his sons, as a mother pleads with her daughters, or as a nursemaid pleads with her small children.
29. I begged you to be my people so that I could be your God, to be my children so that I could be your father.
30. I gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But now what can I do with you? I will banish you from my sight;
31. and even when you offer sacrifices to me, I will turn away from you. Your religious festivals, your New Moon celebrations, or your circumcision ceremonies mean nothing to me.
32. I sent you my servants, the prophets, but you killed them and mutilated their corpses. I will make you pay for murdering them.
33. “The Lord Almighty says: Your Temple is abandoned. I will scatter you like straw blown away by the wind.
34. Your children will have no descendants because they rejected my commandments and did what I hated, just as you did.