When I send evil arrows of famine upon them, for destruction I will send them to destroy you, and I will intensify the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread.
For thus Adonai says: “How much more if I send My four dreadful judgments against Jerusalem—the sword, the famine, the evil beasts and the plague—to cut man and beast off from it.
“But if you will not listen to the voice of Adonai your God, to take care to do all His mitzvot and statutes that I am commanding you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
“The following generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land will say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses Adonai afflicted on it:
For they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, in order to provoke Me with all the work of their hands. Therefore My wrath has been kindled against this place and it will not be quenched.’
kill off old men, young men and girls, little children and women. But touch no one who has the mark. Begin at My Sanctuary.” Then they began with the elders who were before the House.