“By the hand of your servants you have reproached יהוה, and said, ‘With my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the limits of Leḇanon. And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. And I enter its farthest height, its thickest forest.
“Their widows shall be more numerous than the sand of the seas. I shall bring against them, against the mother of the young men, a ravager at noon. I shall cause agitation and sudden alarm to fall on her, suddenly.
“And I shall punish you according to the fruit of your deeds,” declares יהוה. “And I shall kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall consume all that is around her.” ’ ”
“See, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Yisra’ĕl,” declares יהוה. “It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor do you understand what they say.