"They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?'

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as they would the vine. Pass your hand over them like grape gatherers over the branches.

The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we haven't been delivered.

They make their land into a desolate place, an object of lasting scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.

I'll make this city into a desolate place and an object of scorn. All who pass by it will be astonished and will scoff because of all its wounds.

"Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, "Why did the LORD do this to this great city?'

In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, in the towns of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the areas around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them,' says the LORD."

There they'll cry out, "Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is just a big noise. He has let the appointed time pass by.'

I'll give them to those who are seeking their lives and to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. Then afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past," declares the LORD.