7  ^kHas he struck them ^las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain ^mas their slayers were slain?

8  ⁿMeasure by measure,¹ by exile you contended with them;

^ohe removed them with his fierce breath² in the day of the east wind.

9  Therefore by this ^pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:³

^qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no ^rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10  ^sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

11  When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

^tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.