"Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! "They've abandoned the LORD; they've despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they've walked away from me.

"The daughter of Zion is left abandoned, like a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, or like a city under siege.

My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.'

Like fluttering birds, like an abandoned nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon River.

"At that time, their fortified cities that they abandoned because of the Israelis will be like desolate places of the forests and hilltops there will be desolation.

For the fortified city stands desolate, a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert; calves graze there, and there they lie down and strip bare its branches.

"For the palace will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; the citadel and watchtower will become barren wastes forever, the delight of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks,

"But Zion said, "The LORD has abandoned me, and my God has forgotten me.'

"For a brief moment I abandoned you; but I'll gather you with great compassion.