A lament over the land

9Over the mountains I will lift up weeping and wailing, and over the pastures of the wilderness a lament, because they are laid waste so that no man passes through, and they do not hear the sound of livestock. From the birds of the heavens to the beasts, they have fled; they are gone.

10And I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

11Who is the wise man who can understand this? To whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, laid waste like the wilderness, with no one passing through?

12And Yahweh said, "Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in it,"

13They went after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.

14Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I am feeding this people wormwood, and I will make them drink poisoned water.

15And I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.