Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge(A) myself
    on such a nation as this?”

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.(B)
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds(C) have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap(D) of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;(E)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah(F)
    so no one can live there.”(G)

12 Who is wise(H) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.(I) 14 Instead, they have followed(J) the stubbornness of their hearts;(K) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

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