8. They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire,each lusting for his neighbour's wife.
9. Shouldn't I punish them for these thingsand take revenge on a nation such as this?
10. I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards,but not to destroy them completely.I will tell them to strip away the branches,because those branches are not mine.
11. The people of Israel and Judahhave betrayed me completely.I, the Lord, have spoken.”
12. The Lord's people have denied him and have said, “He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine.”
15. People of Israel, the Lord is bringing a nation from afar to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know.
16. Their bowmen are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy.
17. They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.
18. The Lord says, “Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people.
19. When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs.”
20. The Lord says, “Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah: