4. Then I said, “These are only the poor. They have been foolish, for they have not known the way of יהוה, the right-ruling of their Elohim.
5. “Let me go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of יהוה, the right-ruling of their Elohim.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and torn off the bonds.
6. Therefore a lion from the forest shall smite them, a wolf of the deserts ravage them. A leopard is watching over their cities, whoever comes out of them is torn in pieces. For their transgressions have been many, their backslidings have been numerous.
7. “Why should I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not mighty ones. When I had filled them up, they then committed adultery and they thronged to the house of a whore.
8. “They were like well-fed horses, every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9. “Would I not punish them for this?” declares יהוה. “And would I not revenge Myself on such a nation as this?