20. “And He said, ‘Let Me hide My face from them, Let Me see what their end is, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom there is no trusting.
21. “They made Me jealous by what is not Ěl, They provoked Me with their worthless matters. But I make them jealous by those who are no people, I provoke them with a foolish nation.
22. “For a fire was kindled in My wrath And burns to the bottom of She’ol, And consumes the earth and its increase, And sets on fire the foundations of mountains.
23. “I gather evils upon them, I use up My arrows upon them –
24. “Wasted by scarcity of food, And consumed by heat and bitter destruction, And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With the poison of serpents of the dust.
25. “The sword bereaves from the outside, And fear from within, Both young man and maiden, Nursing child with the man of grey hairs.
26. “I said, ‘I should blow them away, I should make the remembrance of them To cease from among men,
27. ‘If I did not fear the enemy’s taunt, Lest their adversaries misunderstand, Lest they say, “Our hand is high, And יהוה has not done all this.” ’
28. “For they are a nation lost to counsel, And there is no understanding in them.
29. “If they were wise, They would understand this, They would consider their latter end!
30. “How would one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And יהוה had given them up?
31. “For their rock is not like our Rock – Even our enemies are judges.
32. “Their vine is of the vine of Seḏom And of the fields of Amorah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter.
33. “Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the fierce venom of cobras.
34. ‘Is it not stored up with Me, Sealed up among My treasures?
35. ‘Vengeance is Mine, and repayment, At the time their foot slips; For near is the day of their calamity, And the matters prepared are hastening to them.’
36. “For יהוה rightly rules His people And has compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, Shut up or at large.