22. Also I will turn My face from them and they shall profane My secret treasure [the temple]; and robbers shall enter into it and profane it.
23. Prepare the chain [of imprisonment], for the land is full of bloodguiltiness [murders committed with pretended formalities of justice] and the city is full of violence.
24. Therefore I will bring in the worst of the [heathen] nations, who will take possession of the houses [of the people of Judah]; I will also silence their strongholds and put an end to their proud might, and their holy places and those who sanctify them shall be profaned.
25. Distress, panic, and destruction shall come, and they [of Judah] shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26. Calamity shall come upon calamity and rumor shall be upon rumor, and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; and the law and instruction shall cease from the [distracted] priest and counsel from the [dismayed] elders. [Ps. 74:9; Lam. 2:9.]
27. The king [of Judah] shall wear mourning and the prince shall clothe himself with garments of despair and desolation, while the hands of the people of the land shall tremble [palsied by terror]; for I will do to them in accordance with their ways, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know, recognize, and realize that I am the Lord.