Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
The question is who is the wise man with understanding to explain it, and who has been taught by the mouth of the Lord so that he can declare why the land perishes and is burned up and left desolate like a wilderness with none passing through. The answer given in the verses that follow is that the ruin came because the people forsook God's law and walked after the imagination of their own hearts and desires. More fully, they did not obey His voice but followed after Baalim as their fathers had taught them, and this unfaithfulness to Him brought judgment upon them.
The same inquiry warns that to persist in one's own way instead of relying on divine wisdom and power brings ruin upon the work entrusted to a person. It applies especially to those in positions of trust whose selfish course and disregard of God's principles injure His work, and it shows their need for repentance and confession.