19. The Lord saw this and rejectedout of aggravation his sons and his daughters.
20. He said: I will hide my face from them—I will see what becomes of them—because they are a confused generation;they are children lacking loyalty.
21. They provoked me with "no-gods,"aggravated me with their pieces of junk.So I am going to provoke them with "No-People,"aggravate them with a nation of fools.
22. A fire burns in me—it will blaze to the depths of the grave;it will destroy the land and its crops;it will blacken the base of the mountains.
23. I’ll throw on them disaster after disaster;I’ll destroy them with my arrows:
24. devastating hunger, consuming plague, bitter sickness.I’ll send animal fangs after them,venom from dust crawlers too.
25. Outside, in the streets, the sword will bereave!Inside, in the safest room, there will be terrorfor young men and women,nursing baby and senior citizen.
26. I thought about it: I could have struck them down,erased them from human memory,
27. but their enemies’ rage concerned me;their opponents might misunderstand.They might say, "Our strong hands,not the Lord’s, did all this,"
28. because they are not a thoughtful nation;they lack any insight.
29. If they had any wisdom, they would understand this;they would discern what will become of them.
30. How could one person chase off a thousand in battle?How could two people make ten thousand flee for their lives?Only because their rock sold them off,only because the Lord handed them over!
31. But, no, their rocks can’t compare to our rock!Our enemies are completely stupid.
32. Their roots run straight from Sodom—from the fields of Gomorrah!Their grapes are pure poison;their grape clusters, nothing but bitter;
33. their wine is snake poison,venom from a cruel cobra.
34. Don’t I have this stored up,sealed in my vaults?