Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? All nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? In looking at its ruined cities, its blasted coast, its naked mountains, its sterile and parched soil-all the sad and unmistakeable evidences of a land lying under a curse-numbers of travelers from Europe, America, and the Indies, 'strangers from a far country' (Deuteronomy 29:22), in the present day, see that the Lord has executed his threatening. Who can resist the conclusion, that it has been inflict because the inhabitants had forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.'
The infidel Volney, 'a stranger that came from a far country expressed himself, after a survey of Palestine ('Ruins of Empires,' b. 2:), in terms which are an unconscious fulfillment of this prediction: 'From whence proceed such melancholy revolutions? For what cause, is fortune of these countries so strikingly changed? Why are so many cites destroyed? Why is not that ancient population reproduced and perpetuated?-a mysterious God exercises his incomprehensible judgments. He had doubtless pronounced a secret malediction against the land. He has struck with a curse the present race of men in revenge of past generations.'