<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;That is why I will scatter your people<n id="2" /> like chaffp> <p class="poetry">that is blown away by a desert wind.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will hear, &#8216;Run! Save yourselves!p> <p class="poetry">Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!&#8217;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desertp> <p class="poetry">and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> had brought this all aboutp> <p class="poetry">because of his blazing anger.<n id="1" />p>

all the kings of Arabia who<n id="1" /> live in the desert;

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The people of Israel who survivedp> <p class="poetry">death at the hands of the enemy<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will find favor in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">as they journey to find rest for themselves.p>

<p class="poetry">But Babylonia will be put to great shame.p> <p class="poetry">The land where you were born<n id="1" /> will be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a dry and barren desert.p>

<p class="poetry">You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.p> <p class="poetry">In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No one can hold her back when she is in heat.p> <p class="poetry">None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.p> <p class="poetry">At mating time she is easy to find.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look up at the hilltops and consider this.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You have had sex with other gods on every one of them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem<n id="1" /> will be told,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;A scorching wind will sweep downp> <p class="poetry">from the hilltops in the desert on<n id="2" /> my dear people.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">It will not be a gentle breezep> <p class="poetry">for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry"><v id="(9:1)" /> I wish I had a lodging place in the desertp> <p class="poetry">where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Then I would desert my peoplep> <p class="poetry">and walk away from themp> <p class="poetry">because they are all unfaithful to God,p> <p class="poetry">a congregation<n id="2" /> of people that has been disloyal to him.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Many foreign rulers<n id="1" /> will ruin the land where I planted my people.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They will trample all over my chosen land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will turn my beautiful landp> <p class="poetry">into a desolate wasteland.p>

<p class="poetry">They will be like a shrub<n id="1" /> in the desert.p> <p class="poetry">They will not experience good things even when they happen.p> <p class="poetry">It will be as though they were growing in the desert,p> <p class="poetry">in a salt land where no one can live.p>

<p class="poetry">For the land is full of people unfaithful to him.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They live wicked lives and they misuse their power.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So the land is dried up<n id="3" /> because it is under his curse.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">The pastures in the wilderness are withered.p>

&#8220;Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;I have fond memories of you,<n id="2" /> how devoted you were to me in your early years.<n id="3" /> I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

<p class="poetry">They did not ask:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Where is the <sc>Lordsc> who delivered us out of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">who brought us through the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of drought and deep darkness,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">through a land in which no one travels,p> <p class="poetry">and where no one lives?&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">You people of this generation,p> <p class="poetry">listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then do you<n id="2" /> say, &#8216;We are free to wander.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We will not come to you any more?&#8217;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will weep and mourn<n id="2" /> for the grasslands on the mountains,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">because they are so scorched no one travels through them.p> <p class="poetry">The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.p> <p class="poetry">Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fieldsp> <p class="poetry">have fled and are gone.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Who has a word from the <sc>Lordsc> that can explain it?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Why does the land lie in ruins?p> <p class="poetry">Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?&#8221;p>

That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples.<n id="1" /> I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight.<n id="2" /> Moreover, none of the people of Israel<n id="3" /> are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">A destructive army<n id="1" /> will come marchingp> <p class="poetry">over the hilltops in the desert.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will use them as his destructive weapon<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">against<n id="3" /> everyone from one end of the land to the other.p> <p class="poetry">No one will be safe.<n id="4" />p>