¹² Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, so that they may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?^(A)

³ Blessed is the one who reads the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

The Desolating Sacrilege

¹⁵ “So when you see the desolating sacrilege, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),^(A)

²⁵ Its princes^[a] within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it.^{(A) 26} Its priests have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.^{(B) 27} Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.^{(C) 28} Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says the Lord God,” when the Lord has not spoken.^{(D) 29} The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy and have extorted from the alien without justice.^{(E) 30} And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.^{(F) 31} Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.^(G)

²³ They shall console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.^(A)

⁸ And many nations will pass by this city, and all of them will say one to another, “Why has the Lord dealt in this way with that great city?”^{(A) 9} And they will answer, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”^(B)

¹⁰ And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?”^{(A) 11} then you shall say to them: It is because your ancestors have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,^{(B) 12} and because you have behaved worse than your ancestors, for here you are, every one of you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me.^{(C) 13} Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.^(D)