Jeremiah 15:5–11

⁵The Lord says,

“Who will pity you, people of Jerusalem,

and who will grieve over you?

Who will stop long enough

to ask how you are?

⁶You people have rejected me;

you have turned your backs on me.

So I stretched out my hand and crushed you

because I was tired of controlling my anger.^s

⁷In every town in the land

I threw you to the wind like straw.

I destroyed you, my people,

I killed your children

because you did not stop your evil ways.

⁸There are more widows in your land

than grains of sand by the sea.

I killed your young men in their prime

and made their mothers suffer.

I suddenly struck them

with anguish and terror.

⁹The mother who lost her seven children has fainted,

gasping for breath.

Her daylight has turned to darkness;

she is disgraced and sick at heart.

I will let your enemies kill

those of you who are still alive.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Jeremiah Complains to the

¹⁰What an unhappy man I am! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the land. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me. ¹¹Lord, may all their curses come true if I have not served^t you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress.