23 has become a scorching desert of salt and sulphur, where nothing is planted, nothing sprouts, and nothing grows. It will be as lifeless as the land around the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, after the Lord became angry and destroyed them.
24 People from other nations will ask, “Why did the Lord destroy this country? Why was he so furious?”
25 And they will be given this answer:Our ancestors worshipped the Lord, but after he brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them, they rejected the agreement
26 and decided to worship gods that had never helped them. The Lord had forbidden Israel to worship these gods,
27-28 and so he became furious and punished the land with all the curses in The Book of God's Law. Then he pulled up Israel by the roots and tossed them into a foreign country, where they still are today.
29 The Lord our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but he has commanded us to obey the laws he gave to us and our descendants.