Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
You have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, for they are full of diviners from the East and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with foreigners.
Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces; no sacred poles or incense altars will remain standing.
The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of daughter Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.
You will say, “I will go up against the land of unwalled villages; I will fall upon the quiet people who live in safety, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates,
therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.