19Who is blind but my servant,

and deaf like the messenger I send?

Who is blind like the one committed to me,

blind like the servant of the Lord?

20You have seen many things, but have paid no attention;

your ears are open, but you hear nothing.”

21It pleased the Lord

for the sake of his righteousness

to make his law great and glorious.

22But this is a people plundered and looted,

all of them trapped in pits

or hidden away in prisons.

They have become plunder,

with no one to rescue them;

they have been made loot,

with no one to say, “Send them back.”

23Which of you will listen to this

or pay close attention in time to come?

24Who handed Jacob over to become loot,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord,

against whom we have sinned?

For they would not follow his ways;

they did not obey his law.

25So he poured out on them his burning anger,

the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;

it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.