20  And he said, a‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

21  bThey have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger cwith their idols.

So dI will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with ea foolish nation.

22  For fa fire is kindled by my anger,

and it burns to gthe depths of Sheol,

devours the earth and its increase,

and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23  “ ‘And I will heap disasters upon them;

hI will spend my arrows on them;

24  they shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured by plague

and poisonous pestilence;

I will send ithe teeth of beasts against them,

with the venom of jthings that crawl in the dust.

25  kOutdoors the sword shall bereave,

and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

26  lI would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

mI will wipe them from human memory,”

27  had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, n“Our hand is triumphant,

it was not the Lord who did all this.” ’

28  “For they are a nation void of counsel,

and there is ono understanding in them.

29  pIf they were wise, they would understand this;

they would qdiscern their latter end!