26. I thought, “I will wipe them out; I will make people forget they ever existed.”
27. If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy, lest their foes might misunderstand, lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant, and Yahweh did not do all this.” ’
28. For they are a nation void of sense, and there is not any understanding in them.
29. If only they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern for themselves their end.
30. How could one chase a thousand and two could cause a myriad to flee, if their Rock had not sold them, and Yahweh had not given them up?
31. For the fact of the matter is, their rock is not like our Rock, and our enemies recognize this.
32. For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the terraces of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter.
33. Their wine is the poison of snakes, and the deadly poison of horned vipers.
34. ‘Is not this stored up with me, sealed in my treasuries?’
35. Vengeance belongs to me and also recompense, for at the time their foot slips, because the day of their disaster is near, and fate comes quickly for them.’
36. For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people, and concerning his servants; he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared, and there is no one left, confined or free.
37. And he will say, ‘Where are their gods, their rock in whom they took refuge?
38. Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up, and let them help you; Let them be to you a refuge.
39. See, now, that I, even I am he, and there is not a god besides me; I put to death and I give life; I wound and I heal; there is not one who delivers from my hand!