Jeremiah 15

¹Then the Lord said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people . Send them out of my sight , and let them go !

²And when they ask you, Where shall we go ? you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: Those who are for pestilence , to pestilence , and those who are for the sword , to the sword ; those who are for famine , to famine , and those who are for captivity , to captivity .

³I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill , the dogs to tear , and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy .

⁴And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah , king of Judah , did in Jerusalem .

⁵Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem , or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare ?

⁶You have rejected me, declares the Lord; you keep going backward , so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting .

⁷I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land ; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people ; they did not turn from their ways .

⁸I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas ; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday ; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly .

⁹She who bore seven has grown feeble ; she has fainted away ; her sun went down while it was yet day ; she has been shamed and disgraced . And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies , declares the Lord.

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother , that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land ! I have not lent , nor have I borrowed , yet all of them curse me.

¹¹The Lord said , Have I not set you free for their good ? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress ?

¹²Can one break iron , iron from the north , and bronze ?

¹³Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil , without price , for all your sins , throughout all your territory .

¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know , for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.

¹⁵O Lord, you know ; remember me and visit me,, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors . In your forbearance take me not away ; know that for your sake I bear reproach .

¹⁶Your words were found , and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart , for I am called by your name , O Lord, God of hosts .

¹⁷I did not sit in the company of revelers , nor did I rejoice ; I sat alone , because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation .

¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing , my wound incurable , refusing to be healed ? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook , like waters that fail ?

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord: If you return , I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious , and not what is worthless , you shall be as my mouth . They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze ; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.

²¹I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked , and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless .