4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of the Lord, nor the law of their God.
5 I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Lord, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them, a wolf of the evenings will destroy them, a leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding has increased.
7 “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s.