4. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they have become foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God.
5. I will go unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6. Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.
7. How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8. They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9. Shall I not visit for these things? said the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?