²⁴ All the nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He had made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They began to worship other gods, bowing down to gods they had not known—gods that the Lord had not permitted them to worship.^{(A) 27} Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, and He brought every curse written in this book on it. ²⁸ The Lord uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and threw them into another land where they are today.’

¹⁷ My anger will burn against them on that day; I will abandon them and hide My face from them so that they will become easy prey.^[a] Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us?’ ¹⁸ I will certainly hide My face on that day because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.