Jeremiah 9:9-16

91Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord. “On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?

10“For the 2mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the 3wilderness a dirge, Because they are 4laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the 5birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.11I will make Jerusalem a 6heap of ruins, A haunt of 7jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a 8desolation, without inhabitant.”

12Who is the 9wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom 10the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? 11Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13The Lord said, “Because they have 12forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 14but have 13walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the 14Baals, as their 15fathers taught them,” 15therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, 16I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them 17poisoned water to drink. 16I will 18scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the 19sword after them until I have annihilated them.”