And the Philistines made raids on the cities of the lowlands of the Shephelah and the Negev of Judah. And they captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soko and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages; and they settled there.
So the Lord brought on them the officials of the army of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, and they bound him in bronze chains and led him to Babylon.
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste without inhabitants, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate,
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, nor shall He have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.
And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more, for every man’s word will be his oracle. For you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of Hosts our God.
“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’
because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods whom they did not know, neither they nor you nor your fathers.
Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is astounding; she has no comforter. “O Lord, look upon my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!”
Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”
Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of perverseness, for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’
They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a loose bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will be mounds of ruins, and the mountain of the house will become wooded heights.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours the man who is more righteous than he?
to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all who are godless of all their wicked deeds that they have committed, and of all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against Him.”