And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
When the people ask why this has happened, they are to be told that as they served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve foreigners in a land not their own.
This verse interprets exile as a fitting reversal.
14Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: 15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, 16Their quivers are like open graves; 17They will devour your harvest and food; 18“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. 19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’” 20Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: 21“Hear this, 22Do you not fear Me?” 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. 24They have not said in their hearts, 25Your iniquities have diverted these from you; 26For among My people are wicked men; 27Like cages full of birds, 28They have grown fat and sleek, 29Should I not punish them for these things?” 30A horrible and shocking thing 31The prophets prophesy falsely,