I have for a long time held My peace; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now I will cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore, He waits on high to have mercy on you; for the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all who long for Him.
Of whom were you afraid or fearful when you lied and you did not remember Me, nor give Me a thought? Have I not held My peace for a long time so that you do not fear Me?
You who have forsaken Me, says the Lord, you keep going backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you. I am weary of relenting!
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, and the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, “Ah, woe is me, for my soul is wearied because of murderers.”
So the Lord could no longer bear it because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day.
Keep in mind that the patience of our Lord means salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul has also written to you according to the wisdom given to him.