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.