“Look around at the nations;
    look and be amazed!^[a]
For I am doing something in your own day,
    something you wouldn’t believe
    even if someone told you about it.

⁷ “I kept the rain from falling
    when your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town
    but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field,
    while another field withered away.
⁸ People staggered from town to town looking for water,
    but there was never enough.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

⁹ “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
    Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹⁰ “I sent plagues on you
    like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
    and led all your horses away.^[a]
    The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹¹ “I destroyed some of your cities,
    as I destroyed^[b] Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
    were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

¹² “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
    Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

³ Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
    but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
    but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
    they have refused to repent.

¹¹ O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist.
    Show them your eagerness to defend your people.
Then they will be ashamed.
    Let your fire consume your enemies.

29 Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism
    will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.