⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them, and I will reject from my sight this temple that I have consecrated for my name. Israel will become a byword and a laughingstock among all the nations. ⁸ Although this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss at it, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this temple?’ ⁹ Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their fathers forth from the land of Egypt. They have embraced other gods, and they have worshiped them and served them. This is why the Lord has brought all of these disasters upon them.’ ”