They will be starved by famines and ravaged by pestilence and deadly epidemics. I will send vicious animals against them along with poisonous animals that crawl on the ground.
So the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.
Wolves and lambs will feed together, lions will eat straw like oxen, and dust will be food for snakes. “They will not hurt or destroy anyone anywhere on my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
If I go to the field, I see those killed because of war. If I go to the city, I see those sick because of famine. Prophets and priests wander through a land they haven’t heard of.
“I will devise four ways to punish them,” declares the Lord. “I will send swords to kill, dogs to drag away, and birds and animals to devour and destroy.
They will die horrible deaths. No one will mourn for them or bury them. They will be like manure on the ground. Wars and famines will bring them to an end. Their bodies will be food for birds and animals.
“Suppose I send wild animals through that country and they make it childless and turn it into such a wasteland that no one travels through it because of the animals.
“This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will surely send four terrible punishments against Jerusalem. I will send wars, famines, wild animals, and plagues. They will destroy people and animals.
I will send famines and wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children. I will send plagues, violence, and wars to kill you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Even if they hide on top of Mount Carmel, I will look for them and take them from there. Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command a sea snake to bite them.
They will lick dust like snakes, like animals that crawl on the ground. They will come out of their hiding places trembling. They will turn away from your presence in fear, O Lord our God. They will be afraid of you.
The Lord will strike you with disease, fever, and inflammation; heat waves, drought, scorching winds, and ruined crops. They will pursue you until you die.
So you will serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you. You will serve them even though you are already hungry, thirsty, naked, and in need of everything. The Lord will put a heavy burden of hard work on you until he destroys you.
Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.