19 When the LORD saw this, He rejected them,
provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
20 He said: “I will hide My face from them;
I will see what will be their end.
For they are a perverse generation—
children of unfaithfulness.
21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God;
they have enraged Me with their worthless idols.
So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people;[1]
I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.[2]
22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol;
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend My arrows against them.
24 They will be wasted from hunger
and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;
I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them,
with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
25 Outside, the sword will take their children,
and inside, terror will strike
the young man and the young woman,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
26 I would have said that I would cut them to pieces
and blot out their memory from mankind,
27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
lest their adversaries misunderstand and say:
‘Our own hand has prevailed;
it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
28 Israel is a nation devoid of counsel,
with no understanding among them.
29 If only they were wise, they would understand it;
they would comprehend their fate.
30 How could one man pursue a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
even our enemies concede.[3]
32 But their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous;
their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
34 “Have I not stored up these things,
sealed up within My vaults?
35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.[4]
In due time their foot will slip;
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly.”
36 For the LORD will vindicate His people [5]
and have compassion on His servants
when He sees that their strength is gone
and no one remains, slave or free.
37 He will say: “Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them give you shelter!
