All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.

Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

But those who harvest the grain will eat it, and will praise the Lord. Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

But they rebelled and offended his holy Spirit, so he turned into an enemy and fought against them.

For the Lord judges all humanity with fire and his sword; the Lord will kill many.

You have brought all this on yourself, Israel, by deserting the Lord your God when he was leading you along the right path.

“It did no good for me to punish your people. They did not respond to such correction. You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion.”

Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances? You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria.

“I looked at the land and saw that it was an empty wasteland. I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Kings will come against it with their armies. They will encamp in siege all around it. Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right!

The people cry out, “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people have suffered. They say, “Everything will be all right!” But everything is not all right!

You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.

“Hear the terms of the covenant I made with Israel and pass them on to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord.

“I, the Lord, say: ‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride.

The Lord continued, “In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior.

I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about. For my anger is like a fire that will burn against you.”