So the Lord is angry with his people. He raises his hand against them and strikes them down. The mountains shake. The bodies of dead people lie in the streets like trash. Even then, the Lord is still angry. His hand is still raised against them.
The Lord will never be willing to forgive those people. His great anger will blaze out against them. All the curses I’ve written down in this book will fall on them. And the Lord will erase any mention of them from the earth.
Like an enemy the Lord got his bow ready to use. He had a sword in his right hand. Like an enemy he destroyed everything that used to be pleasing to him. His anger blazed out like fire. It burned up the homes in the city of Zion.The Lord was like an enemy. He swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all of its palaces. He destroyed its forts. He filled the people of Judah with sorrow and sadness.The Lord’ s temple was like a garden. But he completely destroyed it. He destroyed the place where he used to meet with his people. He made Zion’s people forget their appointed feasts and Sabbath days. When he was very angry, he turned his back on king and priest alike.The Lord deserted his altar. He left his temple. He gave the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces into the hands of her enemies. They shouted loudly in the house of the Lord. You would have thought it was the day of an appointed feast.
