⁸ “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’^{(A) 9} And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served other gods.^(B)’”

²⁴ All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?^(A) Why this fierce, burning anger?”

²⁵ And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.^{(B) 26} They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.

⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(A) all who pass by will be appalled^(B) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^(C)