You might ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It happened because of your many sins. Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off and your body has been treated badly.
The king of Assyria will carry away prisoners from Egypt and Cush. Old people and young people will be led away naked and barefoot, with their buttocks bare. So the Egyptians will be shamed.
“Now, listen, you lover of pleasure. You think you are safe. You tell yourself, ‘I am the only important person. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
And the people to whom the prophets speak will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem. There they will die from hunger and from an enemy’s sword. And no one will be there to bury them, or their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. I will punish them.
When the people of Judah ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these terrible things to us?’ then give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord and served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.’
Jerusalem sinned terribly, so she has become unclean. Those who honored her now hate her, because they have seen her nakedness. She groans and turns away.
If she refuses, I will strip her naked and leave her bare like the day she was born. I will make her dry like a desert, like a land without water, and I will kill her with thirst.
Their mother has acted like a prostitute; the one who became pregnant with them has acted disgracefully. She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers, who give me my food and water, wool and flax, wine and olive oil.’
“I am against you, Nineveh,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “I will pull your dress up over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
At that time I, the Lord, will search Jerusalem with lamps. I will punish those who are satisfied with themselves, who think, ‘The Lord won’t help us or punish us.’