Jeremiah 15–17

Four Types of Calamity

15Then Yahweh said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me,^a my heart would not be to this people. Send them away from my sight,^b and let them go out. ²And then^c if they say to you, ‘Where shall we go?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,

“Those who are destined for the plague, to the plague,

and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword,

and those who are destined for the famine, to the famine,

and those who are destined for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will summon^d over them four types of calamity,” declares^e Yahweh, “the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds^f of the air and the wild animals^g of the earth to devour and to destroy. ⁴And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“For who will have compassion on you, O Jerusalem,

or who will show sympathy to you,

or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?^h

⁶You have forsaken me,” declaresⁱ Yahweh.

“You go backward, so I have stretched my hand against you,

and I have destroyed you.

I am tired of becoming remorseful.

⁷And I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.

I am bereaved.

I have destroyed my people.

They did not turn back from their ways.

⁸Their widows^j will be more numerous before me than the sand of the seas.

I have brought to them, against the mothers^k of young men,^l

a destroyer at noon.

I will suddenly drop on her anguish and horror.^m

⁹She who gave birth to seven has withered away.

She gasps her breath.

Her sun setⁿ while still day.

She has been put to shame and disgraced.

And the remainder of them I will give to the sword

before^o their enemies,” declares^p Yahweh.

Jeremiah’s Lament and Yahweh’s Response

¹⁰Woe to me, O my mother, that you gave birth to me,

a man of contention and quarreling to the whole land.^q

I have not lent out and I have not borrowed.^r

All of them are cursing me.

¹¹Yahweh said,

“Surely^s I will set you free to be good^t for you,

surely^u I will cause the enemy to intercede with you

in a time of trouble,

and in a time of distress.

¹²Can anyone break iron,

iron from the north, or bronze?

¹³I will give your wealth and your treasures

as plunder without price,

even because of all your sins,

and throughout all your territories.

¹⁴And I will make you serve your enemies

in a land that you do not know,

for a fire will kindle in my anger.

Upon you it will be kindled.”

¹⁵You who know, O Yahweh, remember me, and attend to me,

and take revenge for me against my persecutors in your forbearance.^v

You must take me away.

Know that I am carrying disgrace because of you.

¹⁶Your words were found and I ate them,

and your words became to me as jubilation,

even as the joy of my heart,

for your name is called on me, O Yahweh God of hosts.

¹⁷I sat not in the assembly of jokers,

nor did I exult.

Because of the presence^w of your hand I sat alone,

for you filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable?

It refuses to become healed.

Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook,

waters that are not trustworthy.

¹⁹Therefore thus says Yahweh,

“If you turn back, then I will take you back.

You will stand before me.^x

And if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless,

you will be as my mouth.

They will turn back to you,

and you will not turn back to them.

²⁰And I will make you to this people

a wall of fortified bronze,

and they will fight against you,

but they will not prevail over you,

for I am with you, to save you,

and to deliver you,” declares^y Yahweh.

²¹“And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,

and I will redeem you from the hand of the tyrant.”

Jeremiah is Commanded Not to Marry

16And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place.” ³For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: ⁴“They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies^b will become food for the birds^c of the air, and for the wild animals^d of the earth.”

⁵For thus says Yahweh, “You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” declares^e Yahweh, “the loyal love and the compassion. ⁶Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. ⁷And they will not break bread for the mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of the dead. And they will not give drink to them, the cup of desolation, for their fathers,^f or for their mothers.^{g 8}And you shall not enter the house of the banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

⁹For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. ¹⁰And then^h when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, ‘Whyⁱ has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what is our iniquity, and what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?’ ¹¹Then you shall say to them, ‘Because^j your ancestors^k have forsaken me,’ declares^l Yahweh, ‘and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws. ¹²And you have behaved badly^m more than your ancestors,ⁿ and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me. ¹³So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors,^o and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor.

The Nation’s Return to the Land

¹⁴Therefore^p look, days are coming,’ declares^q Yahweh, ‘and it will no longer be said, “As Yahweh lives,^r who led up the Israelites^s from the land of Egypt,” ¹⁵but only^t “As Yahweh lives,^u who led up the Israelites^v from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had driven them,” for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.^{w 16}Look, I am sending for many fishermen,’ declares^x Yahweh, ‘and they will fish them out, and afterward^y I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs. ¹⁷For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from before me,^z and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes. ¹⁸And I will first doubly repay^a their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies^b of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.’ ”

¹⁹O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,

and my refuge in the day of distress,

to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth,

and they will say, “Our ancestors^c have inherited only lies,^d

vanity, and there is no profit in them.

²⁰Can a human make for himself gods?

Yet they are not gods!”

²¹“Therefore^e look, I am about to let them know,

this time I am going to let them know

my power^f and my might,

and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”

The Sin of Judah

17“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus,

with a point of diamond it is engraved

on the tablet of their heart,

and on the horns of their altars.

²As the remembering of their children,

so is the remembering of their altars

and their poles of Asherah worship

beside the leafy trees^a on the high hills.

³O my mountain in the open country,

I will give your wealth, all your treasures, for spoil,

your high places, because of your sin,

throughout all your territories.

⁴And you will let go your hand from your inheritance^b

that I gave to you,

and I will make you serve your enemies

in the land that you do not know,

for you kindled a fire in my anger,

until eternity it will be kindled.”

The One Who Trusts in Humankind Contrasted With the One Who Trusts in Yahweh

⁵Thus says Yahweh,

“Cursed is the person who trusts in humankind

and makes flesh his strength,^c

and turns aside his heart from Yahweh.

⁶And he will be like a juniper in the wilderness,^d

and he will not see when good comes,

and he will dwell in the parched places in the desert,^e

in a land of salt flats,^f where no one lives.

⁷Blessed be the person who trusts in Yahweh,

and Yahweh is his trust.

⁸For he will be like a tree planted by water,

and to the stream it sends its roots,

and it will not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves^g will be luxuriant,

and in the year of drought it will not be anxious,

and it will not cease from the bearing of fruit.

⁹The heart is deceitful more than anything else,

and it is disastrous. Who can understand it?

¹⁰I, Yahweh, examine the mind,^h

I test the heart,ⁱ

and give to each one according to his way,

according to the fruit of his deeds.

¹¹Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay

is one who amasses wealth without justice.

In the middle of his days it will leave him,

and at his end he will prove to be a fool.”

The Fountain of Living Water

¹²A lofty throne of glory from the beginning

is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³O Yahweh, the hope of Israel,

all those who forsake you will be put to shame,

and those who turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded,

for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.

¹⁴Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed,

save me, and I will be saved,

for you are my praise.

¹⁵Look, they are…