21. What will you say when the Lord sets over youthose you cultivated as your special allies?Will not pain grip youlike that of a woman in labour?
22. And if you ask yourself,‘Why has this happened to me?’ –it is because of your many sinsthat your skirts have been torn offand your body ill-treated.
23. Can an Ethiopian change his skinor a leopard its spots?Neither can you do goodwho are accustomed to doing evil.
24. ‘I will scatter you like chaffdriven by the desert wind.
25. This is your lot,the portion I have decreed for you,’declares the Lord,‘because you have forgotten meand trusted in false gods.
26. I will pull up your skirts over your facethat your shame may be seen –