But this same people has robbed and laid waste. All their youth are a snare, and they have been hidden in houses of confinement. They have become victims; there is no one who may rescue them. They have been plundered; there is no one who may say, "Restore."
Who has handed over Jacob into plunder, and Israel into devastation? It is not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they were not willing to walk in his ways, and they have not listened to his law.
If only you had paid attention to my commandments! Your peace would have been like a river, and your justice would have been like the waves of the sea,
So then, truly acknowledge your iniquity, that you have betrayed the Lord your God, and that you have spread your ways to strangers, under every leafy tree, and that you have not listened to my voice, says the Lord.
Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?"