8. I will attack like a bear robbed of her cubs,ripping their bodies open.I will devour them like a lionand tear them apart like a wild animal.
9. “Israel, I will destroy you.Who will be your helper then?
10. What good is your king?Can he save you in any of your towns?What good are your leaders?You said, ‘Give us a king and leaders.’
11. So I gave you a king, but only in anger,and I took him away in my great anger.
12. The sins of Israel are on record,stored away, waiting for punishment.
13. The pain of birth will come for him,but he is like a foolish babywho won’t come out of its mother’s womb.
14. Will I save them from the place of the dead?Will I rescue them from death?Where is your sickness, death?Where is your pain, place of death?I will show them no mercy.
15. Israel is doing well among the nations,but the Lord will send a wind from the east,coming from the desert,that will dry up his springs and wells of water.He will destroy from their treasure houses everything of value.
16. The nation of Israel will be ruined,because it fought against God.The people of Israel will die in war;their children will be torn to pieces,and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”