And they shall answer
Who were left in the land when others were carried captive, as were some by Nebuchadnezzar, and who were capable of making the following answer:
because they forsook the Lord;
the worship of the Lord their God, as the Targum:
who brought forth their fathers out of the land Egypt;
which is observed as an aggravation of their sin:
and have taken hold upon other gods:
the gods of the people, as the Targum; of the Gentiles, who knew not the true God:
and have worshipped them, and served them:
even idols of gold and silver, wood and stone; an instance of judicial blindness they were left unto, who had been favoured with a revelation from God:
therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil;
their idolatry was the cause of it, than which nothing is more provoking to God.