Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

2 “Judah mourns,

And aher gates languish;

They bmourn for the land,

And cthe cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water;

They went to the cisterns and found no water.

They returned with their vessels empty;

They were dashamed and confounded

eAnd covered their heads.

4 Because the ground is parched,

For there was fno rain in the land,

The plowmen were ashamed;

They covered their heads.

5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,

But 1left because there was no grass.

6 And gthe wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;

They sniffed at the wind like jackals;

Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,

Do it hfor Your name’s sake;

For our backslidings are many,

We have sinned against You.

8 iO the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,

Why should You be like a stranger in the land,

And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?

9 Why should You be like a man astonished,

Like a mighty one jwho cannot save?

Yet You, O Lord, kare in our midst,

And we are called by Your name;

Do not leave us!

10 Thus says the Lord to this people:

l“Thus they have loved to wander;

They have not restrained their feet.

Therefore the Lord does not accept them;

mHe will remember their iniquity now,

And punish their sins.”

11 Then the Lord said to me, n“Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 oWhen they fast, I will not hear their cry; and pwhen they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But qI will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

13 rThen I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you 2assured speace in this place.’ ”

14 And the Lord said to me, t“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. uI have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, 3divination, a worthless thing, and the vdeceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, wand who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; xthey will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

17 “Therefore you shall say this word to them:

y‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,

And let them not cease;

zFor the virgin daughter of my people

Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.

18 If I go out to athe field,

Then behold, those slain with the sword!

And if I enter the city,

Then behold, those sick from famine!

Yes, both prophet and bpriest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”

The People Plead for Mercy

19 cHave You utterly rejected Judah?

Has Your soul loathed Zion?

Why have You stricken us so that dthere is no healing for us?

eWe looked for peace, but there was no good;

And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.

20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness

And the iniquity of our ffathers,

For gwe have sinned against You.

21 Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;

Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.

hRemember, do not break Your covenant with us.

22 iAre there any among jthe idols of the nations that can cause krain?

Or can the heavens give showers?

lAre You not He, O Lord our God?

Therefore we will wait for You,

Since You have made all these.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, a“Even if bMoses and cSamuel stood before Me, My 1mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. 2 And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

d“Such as are for death, to death;

And such as are for the sword, to the sword;

And such as are for the famine, to the famine;

And such as are for the ecaptivity, to the captivity.” ’

3 “And I will fappoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, gthe birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will hand them over to htrouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of iManasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?

Or who will bemoan you?

Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?

6 jYou have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,

“You have kgone backward.

Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;

lI am 2weary of relenting!

7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;

I will mbereave them of children;

I will destroy My people,

Since they ndo not return from their ways.

8 Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;

I will bring against them,

Against the mother of the young men,

A plunderer at noonday;

I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them osuddenly.

9 “She planguishes who has borne seven;

She has breathed her last;

qHer sun has gone down

While it was yet day;

She has been ashamed and confounded.

And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword

Before their enemies,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Dejection

10 rWoe is me, my mother,

That you have borne me,

A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole 3earth!

I have neither lent for interest,

Nor have men lent to me for interest.

Every one of them curses me.

11 The Lord said:

“Surely it will be well with your remnant;

Surely I will cause sthe enemy to intercede with you

In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.

12 Can anyone break iron,

The northern iron and the bronze?

13 Your wealth and your treasures

I will give as tplunder without price,

Because of all your sins,

Throughout your territories.

14 And I will 4make you cross over with your enemies

uInto a land which you do not know;

For a vfire is kindled in My anger,

Which shall burn upon you.”

15 O Lord, wYou know;

Remember me and 5visit me,

And xtake vengeance for me on my persecutors.

In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.

Know that yfor Your sake I have suffered rebuke.

16 Your words were found, and I zate them,

And aYour word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;

For I am called by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

17 bI did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,

Nor did I rejoice;

I sat alone because of Your hand,

For You have filled me with indignation.

18 Why is my cpain perpetual

And my wound incurable,

Which refuses to be healed?

Will You surely be to me dlike an unreliable stream,

As waters that 6fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

19 Therefore thus says the Lord:

e“If you return,

Then I will bring you back;

You shall fstand before Me;

If you gtake out the precious from the vile,

You shall be as My mouth.

Let them return to you,

But you must not return to them.

20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze hwall;

And they will fight against you,

But ithey shall not prevail against you;

For I am with you to save you

And deliver you,” says the Lord.

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

And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”

Jeremiah’s Life-Style and Message

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 “They shall die agruesome deaths; they shall not be blamented nor shall they be cburied, but they shall be dlike refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ecorpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

5 For thus says the Lord: f“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; gneither shall men lament for them, hcut themselves, nor imake themselves bald for them. 7 Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to jdrink for their father or their mother. 8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, kI will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of 1mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, l‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them, m‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12 And you have done nworse than your fathers, for behold, oeach one 2follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13 pTherefore I will cast you out of this land qinto a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’

God Will Restore Israel

14 “Therefore behold, the rdays are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the snorth and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For tI will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

16 “Behold, I will send for many ufishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them…