16 But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers,y despising his words,z and scoffing at his prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against his people that there was no remedy.aa 17 So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans,ab who killed their fit young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; he handed them all over to him.