Jeremiah 15

Chapter 15

Judgment Must Come

¹Then 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.

^10aWoe to me, my mother, that you have borne me

As a ^bman of strife and a man of contention to all the land!

I have not ^clent, nor have men lent money to me,

Yet everyone curses me.

¹¹The Lord said, “Surely I will ^aset you free for purposes of good;

Surely I will cause the ^benemy to make supplication to you

In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

¹²“Can anyone smash iron,

^aIron from the north, or bronze?

¹³“Your ^awealth and your treasures

I will give for booty ^bwithout cost,

Even for all your sins

And within all your borders.

¹⁴“Then I will cause your enemies to bring ¹it

Into a ^aland you do not know;

For a ^bfire has been kindled in My anger,

It will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

^15aYou who know, O Lord,

Remember me, take notice of me,

And ^btake vengeance for me on my persecutors.

Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;

Know that ^cfor Your sake I endure reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found and I ^aate them,

And Your ^bwords became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;

For I have been ^ccalled by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

¹⁷I ^adid not sit in the circle of merrymakers,

Nor did I exult.

Because of Your hand upon me I sat ^balone,

For You ^cfilled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why has my pain been perpetual

And my ^awound incurable, refusing to be healed?

Will You indeed be to me ^blike a deceptive stream

With water that is unreliable?

¹⁹Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“^aIf you return, then I will restore you—

^bBefore Me you will stand;

And ^cif you extract the precious from the worthless,

You will become ¹My spokesman.

They for their part may turn to you,

But as for you, you must not turn to them.

²⁰“Then I will ^amake you to this people

A fortified wall of bronze;

And though they fight against you,

They will not prevail over you;

For ^bI am with you to save you

And deliver you,” declares the Lord.

²¹“So I will ^adeliver you from the hand of the wicked,

And I will ^bredeem you from the ¹grasp of the violent.”