[7:15] There is fighting in the streets, and sickness and hunger in the houses. Anyone who is out in the country will die in the fighting, and anyone in the city will be a victim of sickness and hunger.
[7:16] Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.
[7:17] Everyone's hands will be weak, and their knees will shake.
[7:18] They will put on sackcloth and they will tremble all over. Their heads will be shaved, and they will all be disgraced.
[7:19] They will throw their gold and silver away in the streets like garbage, because neither silver nor gold can save them when the Lord pours out his fury. They cannot use it to satisfy their desires or fill their stomachs. Gold and silver led them into sin.
[7:20] Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them.
[7:21] “I will let foreigners rob them,” says the Lord, “and lawbreakers will take all their wealth and defile it.
[7:22] I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.
[7:23] “Everything is in confusion —the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence.
[7:24] I will bring the most evil nations here and let them have your homes. Your strongest men will lose their confidence when I let the nations profane the places where you worship.
[7:25] Despair is coming. You will look for peace and never find it.
[7:26] One disaster will follow another, and a steady stream of bad news will pour in. You will beg the prophets to reveal what they foresee. The priests will have nothing to teach the people, and the elders will have no advice to give.
[7:27] The king will mourn, the prince will give up hope, and the people will shake with fear. I will punish you for all you have done, and will judge you in the same way as you have judged others. This will show you that I am the Lord.”