19 When the Lord saw this, he despised them,

angered by his sons and daughters.

20 He said, “I will hide my face from them;i

I will see what will become of them,

for they are a perverse generation—

unfaithful children.

21 They have provoked my jealousy

with what is not a god;F

they have enraged me with their worthless idols.j

So I will provoke their jealousy

with what is not a people;G

I will enrage them with a foolish nation.k

22 For fire has been kindled because of my anger

and burns to the depths of Sheol;l

it devours the land and its produce,

and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

23 “I will pile disasters on them;

I will use up my arrows against them.

24 They will be weak from hunger,

ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;

I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs,

as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.

25 Outside, the sword will take their children,

and inside, there will be terror;

the young man and the young woman will be killed,

the infant and the gray-haired man.m

26 “I would have said: I will cut them to piecesH

and blot out the memory of them from mankind,n

27 if I had not feared provocation from the enemy,

or feared that these foes might misunderstand

and say, ‘Our own hand has prevailed;

it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’ ”

28 Israel is a nation lacking sense

with no understanding at all.o

29 If only they were wise, they would comprehend this;

they would understand their fate.

30 How could one pursue a thousand,

or two put ten thousand to flight,p

unless their Rock had sold them,

unless the Lord had given them up?q

31 But their “rock” is not like our Rock,

as even our enemies concede.

32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom

and from the fields of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are poisonous;

their clusters are bitter.

33 Their wine is serpents’ venom,

the deadly poison of cobras.a

34 “Is it not stored up with me,

sealed up in my vaults?

35 Vengeance belongs to me;A I will repay.B,b

In time their foot will slip,

for their day of disaster is near,

and their doom is coming quickly.”

36 The Lord will indeed vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servantsc

when he sees that their strength is gone

and no one is left—slave or free.C

37 He will say, “Where are their gods,

the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?

38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?

Let them rise up and help you;

let itD be a shelter for you.