17. They will devour the food of your harvest;they will devour your sons and daughters.They will devour your flocks and herds;they will devour your grapes and figs.And they will destroy your fortified towns,which you think are so safe.
18. “Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely,” says the lord.
19. “And when your people ask, ‘Why did the lord our God do all this to us?’ you must reply, ‘You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’
20. “Make this announcement to Israel,and say this to Judah:
21. Listen, you foolish and senseless people,with eyes that do not seeand ears that do not hear.
22. Have you no respect for me?Why don’t you tremble in my presence?I, the lord, define the ocean’s sandy shorelineas an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross.The waves may toss and roar,but they can never pass the boundaries I set.