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Have dealt very treacherously against Me,

Saith the Lord.

¹²They have belied the Lord,

And said: 'It is not He,

Neither shall evil come upon us;

Neither shall we see sword nor famine;

¹³And the prophets shall become wind,

And the word is not in them;

Thus be it done unto them.'

¹⁴Wherefore thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts:

Because ye speak this word,

Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire,

And this people wood, and it shall devour them.

¹⁵Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far,

O house of Israel, saith the Lord;

It is an enduring nation,

It is an ancient nation,

A nation whose language thou knowest not,

Neither understandest what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is an open sepulchre,

They are all mighty men.

¹⁷And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread,

They shall eat up thy sons and thy daughters,

They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds,

They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees;

They shall batter thy fortified cities,

Wherein thou trusteth, with the sword.

¹⁸But even in those days, saith the Lord,

I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say: 'Wherefore hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us?' then shalt Thou say unto them: 'Like as ye have forsaken Me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

²⁰Declare ye this in the house of Jacob,

And announce it in Judah, saying:

²¹Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding,

That have eyes, and see not,

That have ears, and hear not:

²²Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord;

Will ye not tremble at My presence?

Who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea,

An everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass;

And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail;

Though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.

²³But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart;

They are revolted, and gone.

²⁴Neither say they in their heart:

'Let us now fear the Lord our God,

That giveth the former rain, and the latter in due season;

That keepeth for us

The appointed weeks of the harvest.'

²⁵Your iniquities have turned away these things,

And your sins have withholden good from you.

²⁶For among My people are found wicked men;

They pry, as fowlers lie in wait;

They set a trap, they catch men.

²⁷As a cage is full of birds,

So are their houses full of deceit;

Therefore they are become great, and waxen rich;

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