11. He was like an eagle that stirs up its nest. It hovers over its little ones. It spreads out its wings to catch them. It carries them on its feathers.
12. The Lord was the only one who led Israel. No other god was with them.
13. The Lord made them ride on the highest places in the land. He fed them what grew in the fields. He gave them the sweetest honey. He fed them olive oil from a rocky hillside.
14. He gave them butter and milk from the herds and flocks. He fed them the fattest lambs and goats. He gave them the best of Bashan's rams. He fed them the finest wheat. They drank the bubbling red juice of grapes.
15. When Israel grew fat, they became stubborn. When they were filled with food, they became fat and heavy. They left the God who made them. They turned away from the Rock who saved them.
16. They made him jealous by serving strange gods. They made him angry by worshiping statues of gods. He hated those gods.
17. The people sacrificed to demons, not to God. The demons were gods they hadn't known anything about. Those gods were new to them. Their people long ago didn't worship them.
18. But then they deserted the Rock. He was their Father. They forgot the God who created them.
19. When the Lord saw that, he turned away from them. His sons and daughters made him angry.
20. "I will turn my face away from them," he said. "I will see what will happen to them in the end. They are sinful people. They are unfaithful children.
21. They made me jealous by serving what is not even a god. They made me angry by worshiping worthless statues of gods. I will use people who are not a nation to make them jealous. I will use a nation that has no understanding to make them angry.
22. My anger has started a fire. It burns down to the kingdom of the dead. It will eat up the earth and its crops. It will set the base of the mountains on fire.
23. "I will pile troubles on my people. I will shoot all of my arrows at them.
24. I will send them hunger. It will make them weak. I will send terrible sickness. I will send deadly plagues. I will send wild animals that will tear them apart. Snakes that glide through the dust will bite them.
25. In the streets their children will be killed with swords. Their homes will be filled with terror. Young men and women will die. Babies and old people will die.
26. I said I would scatter them. I said I would wipe them from human memory.
27. But I was afraid their enemies would make fun of that. I was afraid their attackers would not understand. I was sure they would say, 'We're the ones who've beaten them! The Lord isn't the one who did it.' "
28. Israel is a nation that doesn't have any sense. They can't understand anything.
29. I wish they were wise. Then they would understand what's coming. They'd realize what would happen to them in the end.