11-13 Astonished, I said,
    “And Master, how long is this to go on?”
He said, “Until the cities are emptied out,
    not a soul left in the cities—
Houses empty of people,
    countryside empty of people.
Until I, God, get rid of everyone, sending them off,
    the land totally empty.
And even if some should survive, say a tenth,
    the devastation will start up again.
The country will look like pine and oak forest
    with every tree cut down—
Every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps.
    But there’s a holy seed in those stumps.”

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11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”(A)

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined(B)
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted(C)
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,(D)
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away(E)
    and the land is utterly forsaken.(F)
13 And though a tenth remains(G) in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.(H)
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps(I) when they are cut down,
    so the holy(J) seed will be the stump in the land.”(K)

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