²⁸ But why not call on these gods you have made?
    When trouble comes, let them save you if they can!
For you have as many gods
    as there are towns in Judah.

³⁷ Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods,
    the rocks they fled to for refuge?
³⁸ Where now are those gods,
    who ate the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their offerings?
Let those gods arise and help you!
    Let them provide you with shelter!

³ What will you do when I punish you,
    when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
    Where will your treasures be safe?

²⁵ You ignored my advice
    and rejected the correction I offered.
²⁶ So I will laugh when you are in trouble!
    I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
²⁷ when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
    when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone,
    and anguish and distress overwhelm you.

²⁶ I would have annihilated them,
    wiping out even the memory of them.
²⁷ But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy,
    who might misunderstand and say,
“Our own power has triumphed!
    The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’

²⁸ “But Israel is a senseless nation;
    the people are foolish, without understanding.