8. My inheritance has turned against melike a lion in the forest;she growls at me;therefore, I have rejected her.
9. My inheritance has becomelike a bird of prey,surrounded and attacked.Go, gather all the wild animals for the feast.
10. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;they have trampled down my field;they have reduced my treasured fieldto a desolate wilderness.
11. They have devastated her;desolate, she cries out to me in distress:"The whole land is desolate,and no one seems to care."
12. Over all the desert roadsdestroyers march;for the sword of the Lord devoursfrom one end of the land to the other;no one is safe.
13. They have sown wheat and reaped weeds;they have worn themselves out for nothing.They will be ashamed of their harveston account of the Lord’s fierce anger.
14. The Lord proclaims: The evil nations have seized the land that I gave my people Israel. I’m going to dig them up from their own lands, and I will dig up the people of Judah from among them.
15. And after I have dug them up, I will again have compassion on them and restore their inheritance and their land.
16. And then, if they will learn the ways of my people, to make a solemn pledge in my name, "As the Lord lives," just as they once taught my people to swear to Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.
17. But if they don’t listen, I will dig up that nation; yes, I will dig up and destroy, declares the Lord.