³⁷ And you shall become ^(A)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.

^7 (A)then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^(B)and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^(C)and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸ And this house will become a heap of ruins.^[a] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^(D)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’

^9 (A)behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(B)my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^(C)and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

⁹ I will make them ^(A)a horror^[a] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^(B)a reproach, ^(C)a byword, ^(D)a taunt, and ^(E)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

^20 (A)then I will pluck you^[a] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it ^(B)a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

¹³ And as ^(A)you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, ^(B)so will I save you, and ^(C)you shall be a blessing. ^(D)Fear not, but ^(E)let your hands be strong.”

²² And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ^(A)will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— ²³ the whole land burned out with brimstone and ^(B)salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, ^(C)an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, ^(D)Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— ²⁴ all the nations ^(E)will say, ^(F)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned 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 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ^(G)bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, ²⁸ and the Lord ^(H)uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and ^(I)cast them into another land, as they are this day.’