4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are—loaded down with a burden of guilt.They are evil people,corrupt children who have rejected the lord.They have despised the Holy One of Israeland turned their backs on him.
5 Why do you continue to invite punishment?Must you rebel forever?Your head is injured,and your heart is sick.
6 You are battered from head to foot—covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—without any soothing ointments or bandages.
7 Your country lies in ruins,and your towns are burned.Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyesand destroy everything they see.
8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandonedlike a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest,like a helpless city under siege.
9 If the lord of Heaven’s Armieshad not spared a few of us,we would have been wiped out like Sodom,destroyed like Gomorrah.
10 Listen to the lord, you leaders of “Sodom.”Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”