¹² Who is wise^(A) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³ The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^{(B) 14} Instead, they have followed^(C) the stubbornness of their hearts;^(D) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food^(E) and drink poisoned water.^{(F) 16} I will scatter them among nations^(G) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,^(H) and I will pursue them with the sword^(I) until I have made an end of them.”^(J)