And so what the Lord had told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah happened: The country was an empty wasteland for seventy years to make up for the years of Sabbath rest that the people had not kept.
The Arameans came from the east and the Philistines from the west, and they ate up Israel with their armies. But the Lord was still angry; his hand was still raised to punish the people.
Whoever saw my people hurt them. And those enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong. Those people sinned against the Lord, their true resting place, the God their fathers trusted.’