And the means which God chose for the accomplishment of this result were precisely those of which the prophet had complained (xv. 17); his social isolation, which though in part a matter of choice, was partly forced upon him by the irritation and ill-will of his acquaintance. It is now declared that this trial is to continue. The Lord does not necessarily remove a trouble, when entreated to do it. He manifests His love by giving strength to bear it, until the work of chastening be perfected. An interruption is now supposed, such as may often have occurred in the course of Jeremiah's public utterances. The audience demands to know why all this evil is ordained to fall upon them. _What is our guilt and what our trespass, that we have trespassed against Iahvah our God?_ The answer is a twofold accusation. Their fathers were faithless to Iahvah, and they have outdone their fathers' sin; and the penalty will be expulsion and a foreign servitude. "Because your fathers forsook Me (It is Iahvah's word!) And went after other gods, and served them, and bowed down to them, And Me they forsook, and My teaching they observed not: And ye yourselves (or, as for you) have done worse than your fathers; And lo, ye walk each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me. Therefore will I hurl you from off this land, On to the land that ye and your fathers knew not; And ye may serve there other gods, day and night, Since I will not grant you grace."