⁹ By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
    and this will be the full harvest
        that comes from the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
    like pulverized chalkstones,
no Asherah^[a] poles or incense altars will be left standing.
¹⁰ For the fortified city stands desolate,
    a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert;
calves graze there,
    and there they lie down
        and strip bare its branches.
¹¹ When its branches are dry,
    they are broken off,
and women come and kindle fires with them,
    since this is a people who show no consideration.
That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion;
    the One who created them shows them no mercy.