Jeremiah
Chapter 15
1
The LORD said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from me.
2
If they ask you where they should go, tell them, Thus says the LORD: Whoever is marked for death, to death; whoever is marked for the sword, to the sword; whoever is marked for famine, to famine; whoever is marked for captivity, to captivity.
3
Four kinds of scourge I have decreed against them, says the LORD: the sword to slay them; dogs to drag them about; the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy them.
4
And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
5
Who will pity you, Jerusalem, who will console you? Who will stop to ask about your welfare?
6
You have disowned me, says the LORD, turned your back upon me; And so I stretched out my hand to destroy you, I was weary of sparing you.
7
I winnowed them with the fan in every city gate. I destroyed my people through bereavement; they returned not from their evil ways.
8
Their widows were more numerous before me than the sands of the sea. I brought against the mother of youths the spoiler at midday; Suddenly I struck her with anguish and terror.
9
The mother of seven swoons away, gasping out her life; Her sun sets in full day, she is disgraced, despairing. Their survivors I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD.
10
Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth! a man of strife and contention to all the land! I neither borrow nor lend, yet all curse me.
11
Tell me, LORD, have I not served you for their good? Have I not interceded with you in the time of misfortune and anguish?
12
1
15
You know I have. Remember me, LORD, visit me, and avenge me on my persecutors. Because of your long-suffering banish me not; know that for you I have borne insult.
16
When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, Because I bore your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
17
I did not sit celebrating in the circle of merrymakers; Under the weight of your hand I sat alone because you filled me with indignation.
18
2 Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook, whose waters do not abide!
19
Thus the LORD answered me: If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand; If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. Then it shall be they who turn to you, and you shall not turn to them;
20
And I will make you toward this people a solid wall of brass. Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, For I am with you, to deliver and rescue you, says the LORD.
21
I will free you from the hand of the wicked, and rescue you from the grasp of the violent.
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Footnotes

1 [12-14] These verses are omitted in the text because Jeremiah 15:12 in the Hebrew is a dittography of Jeremiah 17:1. Jeremiah 15:13-14 are a dittography of Jeremiah 17:3f.

2 [18] A treacherous brook: that dries up when its waters are needed. The prophet complains that he cannot rely on God with unfailing assurance of his assistance.


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