⁹ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this ^(A)calamity on them.’ ”

¹⁹ And it will be when you say, ^(A)‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have ^(B)forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so ^(C)you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’

²² Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

²⁵ Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶ for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. ²⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, ^(A)to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. ²⁸ And the Lord ^(B)uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, ^(A)they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like ^(B)the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I poured out My fury on them ^(C)for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ So I ^(D)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them ^(E)according to their ways and their deeds. ²⁰ When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they ^(F)profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’