For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, then He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches.
For the fortified city shall be desolate, a homestead forlorn and forsaken like a wilderness; there the calf shall graze, and there it shall lie down and eat its branches.
Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel, but not from Me, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin;
They will eat up your harvest and your bread which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds; they will eat up your vines and your fig trees; they will impoverish your fenced cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; the Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.
And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it.
therefore a tumult will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle; mothers were dashed to pieces upon their children.
Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their infants will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
I will bring a sword upon you that shall extract vengeance for My covenant. And when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, an oracle of the Lord the God of Hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his palaces, so I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
Surely the day is coming, burning like an oven; all the proud, yes, all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming will burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
He will lay siege on you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land, and he will lay siege on you in all your towns throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you.