7
Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people?
8
Their tongues are deadly arrows- they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9
Should I not punish them for these things? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. Should I not take My revenge against a nation such as this?
10
I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, [everything] has fled-they have gone away.
11
I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.