16. I once called them a leafy olive tree, full of beautiful fruit; but now, with a roar like thunder I will set its leaves on fire and break its branches.
17. “I, the Lord Almighty, planted Israel and Judah; but now I threaten them with disaster. They have brought this on themselves because they have done wrong; they have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal.”
18. The Lord informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me.
19. I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, “Let's chop down the tree while it is still healthy; let's kill him so that no one will remember him any more.”
20. Then I prayed, “Almighty Lord, you are a just judge; you test people's thoughts and feelings. I have placed my cause in your hands; so let me watch you take revenge on these people.”
21. The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the Lord's message.
22. So the Lord Almighty said, “I will punish them! Their young men will be killed in war; their children will die of starvation.
23. I have set a time for bringing disaster on the people of Anathoth, and when that time comes, none of them will survive.”