From our ancestors’ days until now, we have been deep in guilt. Our kings and our priests have been handed over to foreign kings to be executed. We have been taken captive, robbed, and humiliated, as we still are today because of our sins.
That’s why the Lord, the Lord of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says, “How horrible it will be when I take revenge on my opponents! I will avenge myself against my enemies.
A mother who gives birth to seven sons will grow faint and breathe her last. She will die, ashamed and humiliated, while it is still daylight. I will put survivors from these people to death in the presence of their enemies,” declares the Lord.
Your own wickedness will correct you, and your unfaithful ways will punish you. You should know and see how evil and bitter it is for you if you abandon the Lord your God and do not fear me,” declares the Almighty Lord of Armies.
But the Lord is on my side like a terrifying warrior. That is why those who persecute me will stumble. They can’t win. They will be very ashamed that they can’t succeed. Their eternal shame will not be forgotten.
But you haven’t listened to me, declares the Lord. You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped and ⌞have brought⌟ harm upon yourselves.’
We must lie down in our shame and be covered by our disgrace. Ever since we were young, we and our ancestors have sinned against the Lord our God. We haven’t obeyed the Lord our God.
It is because their people did evil, and they made me angry. They went to burn incense and serve other gods that neither you nor your ancestors heard of.
The cry from my dear people comes from a distant land: “Isn’t the Lord in Zion? Isn’t Zion’s king still there?” They make me furious with their idols, with their foreign gods.