15 The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to punish these people, I would not agree. I still would not help them. Send them away! I do not want to see them again! 2 They may ask you, “Where should we go?” Then tell them, “This is what the Lord says:
Those who should become ill and die will die.
Those who should die in war will die in war.
Those who should die from famine will die from famine.
Those who should go away as prisoners will go away as prisoners.”
3 I will send four kinds of punishments to hurt them. Soldiers will kill them in war. Dogs will carry away their dead bodies. Birds and wild animals will eat them and destroy them. 4 I will cause the people of all nations to think that the people of Judah are disgusting. That will be because of the evil things that the king of Judah, Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, did in Jerusalem.’
5 The Lord said,
‘People of Jerusalem, nobody will feel sorry for you.
Nobody will weep for you.
Nobody will stop to ask how you are.
6 I tell you this:
You have turned away from me.
You continue to go further away from me.
So I will prepare to use my power to destroy you.
I can no longer be kind to you.
7 I will punish the people of every town in the land.
I will blow them away,
like wind blows away straw.
My people have refused to change the way that they live.
So I will destroy them and their children too.
8 There will be more widows in Judah,
than there is sand on the shore of the sea.
At midday I will send an enemy to destroy the young men.
Their mothers will weep for them.
It will happen very suddenly.
Fear and terror will come!
9 A mother will feel very weak,
because all her seven children have died.
It is difficult for her even to breathe.
She has lost the children that made her happy,
while they were still young.
She will be ashamed and without honour.
I will send your enemies to kill
any of your people who are still alive.’
That is what the Lord says.
10 ‘This is terrible for me!
I am sorry, mother, that you gave birth to me.
I cause trouble and arguments
wherever I go in the land.
I never lend money to people,
and I do not ask them to lend money to me.
But everyone curses me anyway.’
11 The Lord said, [ a ]
‘I will take care of you
so that it brings something good for you.
I will cause your enemies to ask you for help.
They will come to you when they are in trouble.
12 Your enemy that comes from the north
is like a weapon made from iron and bronze.
You will never break it.
13 I will give all your valuable things to your enemies.
They will take them all away.
You will receive nothing in return.
That will pay for the sins that you have done
everywhere in your land.
14 Your enemies will make you their slaves
in a land that you do not know.
I will punish you as if in a hot fire,
because I am very angry with you.’
15 ‘ Lord , you understand my problems.
Remember me and take care of me.
Please punish those people who hate me.
Do not be so patient with them that they kill me.
Remember that they have insulted me
because I am serving you.
16 As your words came to me,
I took them into me like sweet food.
I belong to you, Lord , God Almighty,
so your words made me very happy.
17 When people were enjoying wild parties,
I did not join with them.
I sat alone, because you held me.
You caused me to be angry with those people.
18 I am in pain which never ends.
People have hurt me and nothing makes it better.
Why are you not there to help me?
You are like a stream that becomes dry
and it has no water.’
19 So the Lord said this to me:
‘If you turn back to me,
I will help you to be strong.
Then you can continue to serve me.
Speak valuable words instead of useless words.
Then you can speak on my behalf.
These people must change to be like you have been.
You must not change to become like them.
20 When these people attack you,
I will make you like a strong wall.
You will be like a wall that is made of bronze.
The people will not be able to knock you down.
I will be with you to protect you.
I will keep you safe.’
That is what the Lord says.
21 ‘I will rescue you from the power of those wicked people.
I will keep you safe from those cruel people.’
15 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel were here to pray for the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for them. Send the people of Judah away from me! Tell them to go! 2 They might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ Tell them this is what the Lord says:
“‘I have chosen some people to die.
They will die.
I have chosen some to be killed with swords.
They will be killed with swords.
I have chosen some to die from hunger.
They will die from hunger.
I have chosen some to be taken away to a foreign country.
They will be prisoners there.
3 I will send four kinds of destroyers against them.’
This message is from the Lord .
‘I will send the enemy with a sword to kill.
I will send the dogs to drag their bodies away.
I will send birds of the air and wild animals
to eat and destroy their bodies.
4 I will make the people of Judah
an example of something terrible for all the people on earth.
I will do this to the people of Judah
because of what Manasseh [ a ] did in Jerusalem.
Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.
Manasseh was a king of Judah.’
5 “No one will feel sorry for you, city of Jerusalem.
No one will be sad and cry for you.
No one will go out of their way to even ask how you are.
6 Jerusalem, you left me.”
This message is from the Lord .
“Again and again you left me!
So I will punish and destroy you.
I am tired of holding back your punishment.
7 I will separate the people of Judah with my pitchfork. [ b ]
I will scatter them at the city gates of the land.
My people have not changed,
so I will destroy them.
I will take away their children.
8 Many women will lose their husbands.
There will be more widows than there is sand in the sea.
I will bring a destroyer at noontime.
The destroyer will attack the mothers of the young men of Judah.
I will bring pain and fear on the people of Judah.
I will make this happen very quickly.
9 The enemy will attack with swords and kill the people.
They will kill the survivors from Judah.
A woman with seven children will lose them.
She will cry until she becomes weak and struggles to breathe.
She will be upset and confused,
because her bright day has become dark.”
This message is from the Lord .
10 Mother, I am sorry
that you gave birth to me.
I am the one who must accuse
and criticize the whole land.
I have not loaned or borrowed anything,
but everyone curses me.
11 Surely, Lord , I have served you well.
In times of disaster and trouble,
I prayed to you about my enemies.
12 “Jeremiah, you know that no one
can shatter a piece of iron.
I mean the kind of iron that is from the north. [ c ]
And no one can shatter a piece of bronze either.
13 The people of Judah have many treasures.
I will give these riches to other people.
They will not have to buy them,
because Judah has many sins.
The people sinned in every part of Judah.
14 People of Judah, I will make you slaves of your enemies.
You will be slaves in a land that you never knew.
I am very angry.
My anger is like a hot fire,
and you will be burned.”
15 Lord , you understand me.
Remember me and take care of me.
People are hurting me.
Give them the punishment they deserve.
You are being patient with them.
But don’t destroy me while you remain patient with them.
Think about me.
Think about the pain I suffer for you.
16 Your words came to me, and I ate them up.
They made me very happy.
I was glad to be called by your name,
Lord God All-Powerful.
17 I never sat with the crowd
as they laughed and had fun.
I sat by myself because of your influence on me.
You filled me with anger at the evil around me.
18 I don’t understand why I still hurt.
I don’t understand why my wound is not cured and cannot be healed.
I think you have changed.
You are like a spring of water that became dry.
You are like a spring whose water has stopped flowing.
19 Then the Lord said, “Jeremiah, if you change and come back to me,
I will not punish you.
If you change and come back to me,
then you may serve me.
If you speak important things, not worthless words,
then you may speak for me.
The people of Judah should change and come back to you.
But don’t you change and be like them.
20 I will make you strong.
The people will think you are strong,
like a wall made of bronze.
The people of Judah will fight against you,
but they will not defeat you.
They will not defeat you,
because I am with you.
I will help you, and I will save you.”
This message is from the Lord .
21 “I will save you from these evil people.
They frighten you, but I will save you from them.”
15 Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the Lord ; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord : the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord , thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people since they return not from their ways.
8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord .
10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
11 The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
15 O Lord , thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord , If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord .
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
15 Then the Lord said to me, “ Even ( A ) if ( B ) Moses and ( C ) Samuel were to ( D ) stand before Me, My [ a ] heart would not be [ b ] with this people. ( E ) Send them away from My presence and have them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Those destined ( F ) for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 And I will ( G ) appoint over them four kinds of doom ,” declares the Lord : “the sword to kill, the ( H ) dogs to drag away, and the ( I ) birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will ( J ) make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ( K ) Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 “Indeed, who will have ( L ) pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will ( M ) mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6 You who have ( N ) forsaken Me,” declares the Lord ,
“You keep ( O ) going backward.
So I will ( P ) stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am ( Q ) tired of relenting!
7 I will ( R ) winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will ( S ) bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
( T ) They did not [ c ] repent of their ways.
8 Their ( U ) widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A ( V ) destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
9 She who ( W ) gave birth to seven sons withers away;
[ d ] Her breathing is labored.
Her ( X ) sun has set while it was still day;
She has been ( Y ) shamed and humiliated.
So I will ( Z ) turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord .
10 ( AA ) Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a ( AB ) man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not ( AC ) lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “I will certainly ( AD ) set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the ( AE ) enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
( AF ) Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 I will give your ( AG ) wealth and your treasures
As plunder ( AH ) without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a ( AI ) land that you do not know;
For a ( AJ ) fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”
15 ( AK ) You know, Lord ;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And ( AL ) take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that ( AM ) for Your sake I endure reproach.
16 Your words were found and I ( AN ) ate them,
And Your ( AO ) words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been ( AP ) called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
17 I ( AQ ) did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat ( AR ) alone,
For You ( AS ) filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been endless
And my ( AT ) wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me ( AU ) like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“ ( AV ) If you return, then I will restore you—
( AW ) You will stand before Me;
And ( AX ) if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [ e ] My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
20 Then I will ( AY ) make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For ( AZ ) I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord .
21 “So I will ( BA ) rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will ( BB ) redeem you from the [ f ] grasp of the violent.”
15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses ( A ) and Samuel ( B ) were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. ( C ) Send them away from my presence! ( D ) Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword; ( E )
those for starvation, to starvation; ( F )
those for captivity, to captivity.’ ( G )
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers ( H ) against them,” declares the Lord , “the sword ( I ) to kill and the dogs ( J ) to drag away and the birds ( K ) and the wild animals to devour and destroy. ( L ) 4 I will make them abhorrent ( M ) to all the kingdoms of the earth ( N ) because of what Manasseh ( O ) son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pity ( P ) on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected ( Q ) me,” declares the Lord .
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out ( R ) and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back. ( S )
7 I will winnow ( T ) them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement ( U ) and destruction on my people, ( V )
for they have not changed their ways. ( W )
8 I will make their widows ( X ) more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer ( Y )
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror. ( Z )
9 The mother of seven will grow faint ( AA )
and breathe her last. ( AB )
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced ( AC ) and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword ( AD )
before their enemies,” ( AE )
declares the Lord .
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, ( AF )
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! ( AG )
I have neither lent ( AH ) nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses ( AI ) me.
11 The Lord said,
“Surely I will deliver you ( AJ ) for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead ( AK ) with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
12 “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north ( AL ) —or bronze?
13 “Your wealth ( AM ) and your treasures
I will give as plunder, ( AN ) without charge, ( AO )
because of all your sins
throughout your country. ( AP )
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in [ a ] a land you do not know, ( AQ )
for my anger will kindle a fire ( AR )
that will burn against you.”
15 Lord , you understand;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors. ( AS )
You are long-suffering ( AT ) —do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. ( AU )
16 When your words came, I ate ( AV ) them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight, ( AW )
for I bear your name, ( AX )
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat ( AY ) in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand ( AZ ) was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable? ( BA )
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails. ( BB )
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve ( BC ) me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman. ( BD )
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall ( BE ) to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome ( BF ) you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,” ( BG )
declares the Lord .
21 “I will save ( BH ) you from the hands of the wicked ( BI )
and deliver ( BJ ) you from the grasp of the cruel.” ( BK )
