24 I will send them hunger. It will make them weak. I will send terrible sickness. I will send deadly plagues. I will send wild animals that will tear them apart. Snakes that glide through the dust will bite them.
25 In the streets their children will be killed with swords. Their homes will be filled with terror. Young men and women will die. Babies and old people will die.
26 I said I would scatter them. I said I would wipe them from human memory.
27 But I was afraid their enemies would make fun of that. I was afraid their attackers would not understand. I was sure they would say, 'We're the ones who've beaten them! The Lord isn't the one who did it.' "
28 Israel is a nation that doesn't have any sense. They can't understand anything.
29 I wish they were wise. Then they would understand what's coming. They'd realize what would happen to them in the end.
30 How could one person chase a thousand? How could two make ten thousand run away? It couldn't happen unless their Rock had deserted them. It couldn't take place unless the Lord had given them up.