And I am very angry at the nations that feel so safe. I was only a little angry, and I used them to punish my people. But they caused too much damage.”
They were attacked by all who saw them. And their attackers said, ‘We were not wrong to attack them because they sinned against the Lord. They should have stayed close to him, their true resting place. The Lord is the one their fathers trusted in.’
The land of Judah became an empty desert and stayed that way for 70 years. All this time the land rested to make up for the Sabbath rests that the people had not kept. This is just what the Lord said would happen in the warning he gave through the prophet Jeremiah.
As for Israel, the Arameans are in front of him and the Philistines are behind him. And they are both eating away at him. But the Lord is not finished yet. He is still angry, and his arm is raised to continue punishing Israel.