4. Then I said, “These are only the poor;they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord,the justice of their God.
5. I will go to the greatand will speak to them,for they know the way of the Lord,the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke;they had burst the bonds.
6. Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities;everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,because their transgressions are many,their apostasies are great.
7. “How can I pardon you?Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
8. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9. Shall I not punish them for these things?declares the Lord;and shall I not avenge myselfon a nation such as this?
10. “Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end;strip away her branches,for they are not the Lord’s.
11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judahhave been utterly treacherous to me,declares the Lord.