Jeremiah 15

¹ Yahweh said to me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel pleaded before me, I could not sympathise with thispeople! Drive them out of my sight; away with them!

² And if they ask you, "Where shal we go?" tel them this, "Yahweh says this: Those for the plague, to the plague; those for the sword, to the sword; those for famine, to famine; those for captivity, to captivity!

³ "I shal consign them to four kinds of thing, Yahweh declares: the sword to kil , the dogs to drag away,the birds of heaven and wild animals of earth to devour and to destroy.

⁴ I shal make them an object of horror to al the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh son ofHezekiah, king of Judah, and what he did in Jerusalem." '

⁵ Who is there to pity you, Jerusalem, who to grieve for you, who to go out of his way and ask how youare?

⁶ 'You yourself have rejected me, Yahweh declares, you have turned your back on me; so I havestretched my hand over you and destroyed you. Tired of relenting,

⁷ I have winnowed them with a winnow at the country's gates. They have been bereft, I have destroyedmy people, but they refuse to leave their ways.

⁸ I have made their widows outnumber the sand of the sea. On the mother of young warriors I bring thedestroyer in broad daylight. Suddenly I bring anguish and terror down on her.

⁹ The mother of seven sons grows faint and gasps for breath. It is stil day, but already her sun has set,she is dismayed and distracted; and the rest of them I shal consign to the sword, to their enemies, Yahwehdeclares.'

¹⁰ A disaster for me, mother, that you bore me to be a man of strife and dissension for the wholecountry. I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me.

¹¹ Have I not genuinely done my best to serve you, Yahweh? Have I not interceded with you in time ofdisaster and distress!

¹² 'Can iron break the iron of the north and the bronze?

¹³ Your wealth and your treasures I shal hand over to plunder, without repayment, because of all yoursins, throughout your territory.

¹⁴ I shal enslave you to your enemies in a country which you do not know, for my anger has kindled afire that wil burn you up.'

¹⁵ Yahweh, you know! Remember me, take care of me, and avenge me on my persecutors. Howeverlong your anger endures, do not snatch me away. Realise that I suffer insult for your sake.

¹⁶ When your words came, I devoured them: your word was my delight and the joy of my heart; for I wascal ed by your Name, Yahweh, God Sabaoth.

¹⁷ I never sat in the company of scoffers amusing myself; with your hands on me I held myself aloof,since you had fil ed me with indignation.

¹⁸ Why is my suffering continual, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, for me you are adeceptive stream with uncertain waters!

¹⁹ To which Yahweh replied, 'If you repent, I shal restore you to plead before me. If you distinguishbetween the precious and the base, you shal be as my own mouth. They will come back to you, but you mustnot go back to them.

²⁰ As far as these people are concerned, I shal make you a fortified wall of bronze. They will fightagainst you but will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and rescue you, Yahweh declares.

²¹ I shal rescue you from the clutches of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the violent.'