4  Then I said, “These are only the poor;

they have no sense;

^ffor they do not know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

5  I will go to the great

and will speak to them,

for they know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.”

^gBut they all alike had broken the yoke;

they had burst the bonds.

6  Therefore ^ha lion from the forest shall strike them down;

a ⁱwolf from the desert shall devastate them.

^jA leopard is watching their cities;

everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,

because their transgressions are many,

their ^kapostasies are great.

7  ^l“How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me

^mand have sworn by those who are no gods.

ⁿWhen I fed them to the full,

^othey committed adultery

^pand trooped to the houses of whores.

8  They were well-fed, lusty stallions,

^qeach neighing ^rfor his neighbor’s wife.

9  ^sShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord;

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?