[1] Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet
my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and
let them go! [2] And when they ask you, `Where shall we go?' you shall say
to them, `Thus says the LORD: "Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to
famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity."' [3] "I will
appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the LORD: the sword to
slay, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the
earth to devour and destroy. [4] And I will make them a horror to all the
kingdoms of the earth because of what Manas'seh the son of Hezeki'ah, king
of Judah, did in Jerusalem. [5] "Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or
who will bemoan you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? [6] You
have rejected me, says the LORD, you keep going backward; so I have
stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you;--I am weary of
relenting. [7] I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of
the land; I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people; they did not
turn from their ways. [8] I have made their widows more in number than the
sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a
destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them
suddenly. [9] She who bore seven has languished; she has swooned away; her
sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And
the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the
LORD." [10] Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and
contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all
of them curse me. [11] So let it be, O LORD, if I have not entreated thee
for their good, if I have not pleaded with thee on behalf of the enemy in
the time of trouble and in the time of distress! [12] Can one break iron,
iron from the north, and bronze? [13] "Your wealth and your treasures I
will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your
territory. [14] I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do
not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever."
[15] O LORD, thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for
me on my persecutors. In thy forbearance take me not away; know that for
thy sake I bear reproach. [16] Thy words were found, and I ate them, and
thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called
by thy name, O LORD, God of hosts. [17] I did not sit in the company of
merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because thy hand was upon me,
for thou hadst filled me with indignation. [18] Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt thou be to me like a
deceitful brook, like waters that fail? [19] Therefore thus says the LORD:
"If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you
utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my
mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. [20] And I
will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight
against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save
you and deliver you, says the LORD. [21] I will deliver you out of the hand
of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless."
