Judgment Must Come

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even athough bMoses and cSamuel were to dstand before Me, My 1heart would not be 2with this people; esend them away from My presence and let them go!

2 “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those destined afor 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 “I will aappoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the bdogs to drag off, and the cbirds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

4 “I will amake them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of bManasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 “Indeed, who will have apity on you, O Jerusalem,

Or who will bmourn for you,

Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 “You who have aforsaken Me,” declares the Lord,

“You keep bgoing backward.

So I will cstretch out My hand against you and destroy you;

I am dtired of relenting!

7 “I will awinnow them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will bbereave them of children, I will destroy My people;

cThey did not 1repent of their ways.

8 “Their awidows 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 bdestroyer at noonday;

I will suddenly bring down on her

Anguish and dismay.

9 “She who abore seven sons pines away;

1Her breathing is labored.

Her bsun has set while it was yet day;

She has been cshamed and humiliated.

So I will dgive over their survivors to the sword

Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.