7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, iI will refine them and 2try them;

jFor how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?

8 Their tongue is an arrow shot out;

It speaks kdeceit;

One speaks lpeaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,

But 3in his heart he 4lies in wait.

9 mShall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.

“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,

And nfor the 5dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,

Because they are burned up,

So that no one can pass through;

Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.

oBoth the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;

They are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem pa heap of ruins, qa den of jackals.

I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”

12 rWho is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

13 And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have snot obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have twalked according to the 6dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, uwhich their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will vfeed them, this people, wwith wormwood, and give them 7water of gall to drink. 16 I will xscatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. yAnd I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”