12. Aram from the east and Philistines from the west— and they devoured Israel with the whole mouth. He has not turned away his anger in all of this, and his hand is still stretched out.
13. And the people did not turn to the one who struck it, and they did not seek Yahweh of hosts.
14. So Yahweh cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and reed in one day.
15. Elders and the respectable are the head, and prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16. And the leaders of this people were misleading them, and those who were led were confused.
17. Therefore the Lord did not rejoice over its young men, and he did not have compassion on its orphans and widows, for everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth was speaking folly. In all of this his anger did not turn away, and still his hand is stretched out.
18. For wickedness burned like fire; it consumed brier and thorn. And it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.