23. I will heap disasters upon themand shoot them down with my arrows.
24. I will weaken them with famine,burning fever, and deadly disease.I will send the fangs of wild beastsand poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.
25. Outside, the sword will bring death,and inside, terror will strikeboth young men and young women,both infants and the aged.
26. I would have annihilated them,wiping out even the memory of them.
27. But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy,who might misunderstand and say,“Our own power has triumphed!The lord had nothing to do with this!”’
28. “But Israel is a senseless nation;the people are foolish, without understanding.
29. Oh, that they were wise and could understand this!Oh, that they might know their fate!