²³ ‘The whole land is brimstone, ^(A)salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, ^(B)like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ ²⁴ All nations would say, ^(C)‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ ²⁵ Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. ²⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, ^(D)to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. ²⁸ And the Lord ^(E)uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

¹⁷ Then My anger shall be ^(A)aroused against them in that day, and ^(B)I will forsake them, and I will ^(C)hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[a]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ^(D)‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is ^(E)not among us?’

¹⁸ And ^(A)I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.