Jeremiah 15:1-17:4
New American Standard Bible 1995
Judgment Must Come
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even (A)though (B)Moses and (C)Samuel were to (D)stand before Me, My [a]heart would not be [b]with this people; (E)send 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 (F)for 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 (G)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the (H)dogs to drag off, and the (I)birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will (J)make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of (K)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 “Indeed, who will have (L)pity on you, O Jerusalem,
Or who will (M)mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6 “You who have (N)forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep (O)going backward.
So I will (P)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am (Q)tired of relenting!
7 “I will (R)winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will (S)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
(T)They did not [c]repent of their ways.
8 “Their (U)widows 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 (V)destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Anguish and dismay.
9 “She who (W)bore seven sons pines away;
[d]Her breathing is labored.
Her (X)sun has set while it was yet day;
She has been (Y)shamed and humiliated.
So I will (Z)give over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.
10 (AA)Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me
As a (AB)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not (AC)lent, nor have men lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “Surely I will (AD)set you free for purposes of good;
Surely I will cause the (AE)enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
(AF)Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 “Your (AG)wealth and your treasures
I will give for booty (AH)without cost,
Even for all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 “Then I will cause your enemies to bring [e]it
Into a (AI)land you do not know;
For a (AJ)fire has been kindled in My anger,
It will burn upon you.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
15 (AK)You who know, O Lord,
Remember me, take notice of me,
And (AL)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that (AM)for Your sake I endure reproach.
16 Your words were found and I (AN)ate them,
And Your (AO)words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been (AP)called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
17 I (AQ)did not sit in the circle of merrymakers,
Nor did I exult.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat (AR)alone,
For You (AS)filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my (AT)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me (AU)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord,
“(AV)If you return, then I will restore you—
(AW)Before Me you will stand;
And (AX)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [f]My spokesman.
They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them.
20 “Then I will (AY)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For (AZ)I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” declares the Lord.
21 “So I will (BA)deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will (BB)redeem you from the [g]grasp of the violent.”
Distresses Foretold
16 The word of the Lord also came to me saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their (BC)mothers who bear them, and their (BD)fathers who beget them in this land: 4 “They will (BE)die of deadly diseases, they (BF)will not be lamented or buried; they will be as (BG)dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the (BH)birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says the Lord, “Do not enter a house of [h](BI)mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have (BJ)withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “My (BK)lovingkindness and compassion. 6 Both (BL)great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone (BM)gash himself or (BN)shave his head for them. 7 Men will not (BO)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. 8 Moreover you shall (BP)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am going to [i](BQ)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.
10 “Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘(BR)For what reason has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then you are to say to them, ‘It is (BS)because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed (BT)other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12 You too have done evil, even (BU)more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the (BV)stubbornness of his own (BW)evil heart, without listening to Me. 13 So I will (BX)hurl you out of this land into the (BY)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will (BZ)serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.’
God Will Restore Them
14 “(CA)Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who (CB)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the (CC)land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I am going to send for many (CD)fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will (CE)hunt them (CF)from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. 17 (CG)For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, (CH)nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. 18 I will first (CI)doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have (CJ)polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their (CK)detestable idols and with their abominations.”
19 O Lord, my (CL)strength and my stronghold,
And my (CM)refuge in the day of distress,
To You the (CN)nations will come
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but (CO)falsehood,
Futility and [j](CP)things of no profit.”
20 Can man make gods for himself?
Yet they are (CQ)not gods!
21 “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—
This time I will (CR)make them know
My [k]power and My might;
And they shall (CS)know that My name is the Lord.”
The Deceitful Heart
17 The (CT)sin of Judah is written down with an (CU)iron stylus;
With a diamond point it is (CV)engraved upon the tablet of their heart
And on the horns of [l]their altars,
2 As they remember their (CW)children,
So they remember their altars and their [m](CX)Asherim
By (CY)green trees on the high hills.
3 O (CZ)mountain of Mine in the countryside,
I will (DA)give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty,
Your high places for sin throughout your borders.
4 And you will, even of yourself, (DB)let go of your inheritance
That I gave you;
And I will make you serve your (DC)enemies
In the (DD)land which you do not know;
For you have (DE)kindled a fire in My anger
Which will burn forever.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 15:1 Lit soul
- Jeremiah 15:1 Lit toward
- Jeremiah 15:7 Lit turn back from
- Jeremiah 15:9 Or She has breathed out her soul
- Jeremiah 15:14 I.e. your possessions
- Jeremiah 15:19 Lit as My mouth
- Jeremiah 15:21 Lit palm
- Jeremiah 16:5 Or banqueting
- Jeremiah 16:9 Lit cause to cease
- Jeremiah 16:19 Lit there is nothing profitable in them
- Jeremiah 16:21 Lit hand
- Jeremiah 17:1 So ancient versions; M.T. your
- Jeremiah 17:2 I.e. wooden symbols of a female deity
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
