9. Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares Yahweh, “On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?
10. For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the desert a lament, because they are laid waste so that no man passes through. And the sounds of cattle are not heard, from the birds of heaven to the animals they have fled, they are gone.
11. And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, without inhabitants.
12. Who is the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed? It is laid waste like the desert so that no one passes through.”
13. And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set before them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it,
14. but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them.”
15. Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,