I looked upon the earth, and behold, [it was] not; and to the sky, and there was no light in it.

I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky were scared.

Thus says the Lord, The whole land shall be desolate; but I will not make a full end.

The whole land has recoiled from the noise of the horseman and the bent bow; they have gone into the caves, and have hidden themselves in the groves, and have gone up upon the rocks: every city was abandoned, no man dwelt in them.

How long shall the land mourn, and the grass of the field wither, because the wickedness of them that dwell in it? The beasts and birds are utterly destroyed, because [the people] said, God shall not see our ways.

Therefore shall the land mourn, and shall be diminished with all that dwell in it, with the wild beasts of the field, and the reptiles of the earth, and with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea shall fail:

Therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be taken away; and this is his blessing, when I have taken away his sin; when they have broken to pieces all the stones of the altars as fine dust, and their trees shall not remain, and their idols shall be cut off, as a thicket afar off.

Their silver shall be cast forth in the streets, and their gold shall be despised: their souls shall not be satisfied, and their bellies shall not be filled; for it was the punishment of their iniquities.

Son of man, these men have conceived their devices in their hearts, and have set before their faces the punishment of their iniquities: shall I indeed answer them?

that he should turn aside the house of Israel, according to their hearts that are estranged from Me in their thoughts.

For any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who shall separate himself from Me, and conceive his imaginations in his heart, and set before his face the punishment of his iniquity, and come to the prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him, [according to the things] in which he is entangled.

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up My hand against them, says the Lord God.

Assyria shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in you shall pity the orphan.

What [has] he to do anymore with idols? I have afflicted him, and I will strengthen him. I am as a leafy juniper tree. From Me is your fruit found.

and I will utterly destroy the cities of your land, and demolish all your strongholds:

And I will utterly destroy your graven images, and your statues out of the midst of you; and you shall never any more worship the works of your hands.

And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will utterly destroy the names of the idols from off the land, and there shall be no longer any remembrance of them: and I will cut off the false prophets and the evil spirit from the land.

For I say to you, you shall by no means see Me from now until you say, 'Blessed [is] He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

But I have a few things against you, because you have there [some] who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, both to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

Son of man, if a land shall sin against Me by committing a trespass, then will I stretch out My hand upon it, and will break its staff of bread, and will send forth famine upon it, and cut off man and beast from it.

If again I bring evil beasts upon the land, and take vengeance upon it, and it is ruined, and there be no one to pass through for fear of the wild beasts;

Or again if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Let the sword go through the land; and I cut off from them man and beast;

Or [if] again I send pestilence upon that land, and pour out My wrath upon it in blood, to destroy from off it man and beast;

Thus says the Lord: And if I even send upon Jerusalem My four severe judgments- the sword, famine, evil beasts, and pestilence, to destroy from out of it [both] man and beast;

Therefore say, Thus says the Lord: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given up to the fire to be consumed, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will give up the land to ruin, because they have utterly transgressed, says the Lord.