²³ ‘All its land is ^(A)brimstone and salt, ^(B)a burning waste, ^[a]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of ^(C)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(D)Why has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great ^[b]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then men will say, ‘^(E)Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not ^[c]allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(F)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(G)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

^17 (A)Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^(B)I will forsake them and ^(C)hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘^(D)Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’ ¹⁸ But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.