5. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, in which thou didst trust, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
6. For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have raised their voice after thee, O congregation; do not believe them, when they speak fair words unto thee.
7. I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8. My heritage was unto me as a lion in the forest; it cried out against me, therefore I have hated it.
9. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour her.
10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard; they have trodden my heritage under foot; they have made my precious heritage a desolate wilderness.
11. They have made it desolate; it cries against me, desolate; the whole land was made desolate because there was no man that would see.
12. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land; there is no peace for any flesh.
13. They have sown bread, but shall reap thorns; they had the heritage, but they did not profit; and they shall be ashamed because of your fruits, by the fierce anger of the Lord.
14. Thus hath the Lord said against all my evil neighbours that touch the heritage which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15. And it shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and will cause them to return, each one to his heritage, and each one to his land.