8 "Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.
9 "Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the Lord. "On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?
10 "For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."
12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?
13 The Lord said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,
14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,"