Jeremiah 15
New American Standard Bible
Judgment Must Come
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even (A)if (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 have them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“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 And I will (G)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the (H)dogs to drag away, and the (I)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will (J)make them an object of terror 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, 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 noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
9 She who (W)gave birth to seven sons withers away;
[d]Her breathing is labored.
Her (X)sun has set while it was still day;
She has been (Y)shamed and humiliated.
So I will (Z)turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.
10 (AA)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a (AB)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not (AC)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “I will certainly (AD)set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the (AE)enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
(AF)Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 I will give your (AG)wealth and your treasures
As plunder (AH)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a (AI)land that you do not know;
For a (AJ)fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
15 (AK)You know, 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 a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been (AP)called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
17 I (AQ)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat (AR)alone,
For You (AS)filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been endless
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, this is what the Lord says:
“(AV)If you return, then I will restore you—
(AW)You will stand before Me;
And (AX)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [e]My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to 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 rescue you,” declares the Lord.
21 “So I will (BA)rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will (BB)redeem you from the [f]grasp of the violent.”
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 15:19 Lit as My mouth
- Jeremiah 15:21 Lit palm
Jeremiah 15
The Voice
15 Eternal One (to Jeremiah): Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me to defend this rebellious nation, I would not turn back to this people right now. Send them away from Me, Jeremiah; make them go! 2 And when they look to you and ask, “Where should we go?” tell them I, the Eternal, said,
For some, their destiny is deadly disease,
for others it is war,
And still others, their destiny is starvation,
and lastly, some are doomed to be captives of an enemy state.
3 I am sending four destroyers: the sword to slaughter, the dogs to drag away the carnage, the birds of the sky, and the wild beasts of the earth to devour and destroy what is left. 4 What I do to this evil nation will horrify the watching world for generations. What Manasseh (son of Hezekiah), king of Judah, did in Jerusalem will not be overlooked.
5 Who will have compassion on you, O Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for your losses?
Who will stop and ask how you are?
6 You have rejected Me time and again.
You keep backing away from Me, so I will reach out and destroy you.
I am weary of feeling sorry for you;
I will not relent this time.
7 Like a farmer, I will use my winnowing fork to remove the chaff at the city gates.
I will deprive them of their children.
I will destroy My own because they refuse to turn away
from their wicked and hurtful ways.
8 The widows in this land will outnumber the grains of sand by the sea.
As for the mothers of young men,
I will send the destroyer against them at midday, when no one is expecting.
In the blink of an eye, I will rain down terror and anguish on them.
9 The mother of seven suffers in her sadness;
gasping for breath, she realizes the sun has set even while it is day.
Alone and childless again, she is disgraced and ashamed.
As for those who survive the first wave of violence,
I will put them to the sword before their enemies.
So says the Eternal.
10 Jeremiah: Oh, the anguish that is mine!
If only you had not given birth to me, mother;
I feel like a man who fights and struggles with the whole land.
I have not lent money or borrowed from others.
So why am I treated this way?
Everyone is ready to curse me.
11 Eternal One (to Jeremiah): Hear me, Jeremiah:
I will make you strong in these trying times to accomplish My good.
I will make it so your enemies ask you to pray for them in times of disaster and suffering.
12 Can a man break iron that is forged in the north?
What about bronze?[a]
13 Because you have committed so many sins throughout the land,
I will freely hand over your wealth and treasures to this enemy as plunder.
14 I will incite your enemies to capture you and take you[b] off to a distant land you do not know.
I am doing this because My anger burns like a roaring fire that lasts forever.
The calling of God has left Jeremiah with a loneliness he can hardly bear. The words he must deliver, the sins he continually confronts, and the future God has revealed to him—they all lead to an unbearable isolation. God has heard the lonely cry of His prophet, and He has offered encouragement and a promise to strengthen Jeremiah. At this point, Jeremiah is enduring the pain with his assignment. In fact, in this agony, he openly questions and accuses God Himself.
15 Jeremiah: O Eternal One—You know what I am facing;
Remember me, and pay attention to my plight.
Take my side; pay back those who persecute me.
I know You are patient, but don’t let them take me away.
Think of the suffering I’ve endured for Your sake.
16 When I discovered Your words, I ate them up:
they were my great joy and my heart’s delight.
I am Yours, and I bear the name of the Eternal God,
Commander of heavenly armies.
17 I never sat in the circle of jokesters,
nor did I celebrate with them.
No. I stayed to myself, sat alone because Your hand was heavy on me;
You filled me with indignation over their sins.
18 So why does my pain never end?
Why does this wound never heal?
Will you be to me as deceptive and unreliable as a dry stream to a thirsty man?
19 Eternal One (to Jeremiah): If you will turn back to Me,
I will restore you—
and you will stand before Me.
If you will speak worthy words instead of worthless complaints,
You will be My spokesman.
Let the people come to you, but don’t go to them!
20 They will come at you, but I will make you like a wall of bronze against them.
They will not beat you, because I am with you to save and rescue you.
This will be so, for I have declared it.
21 I will rescue you from the hands of the wicked
and redeem you from the grasp of the violent.
Jeremiah 15
New Living Translation
Judah’s Inevitable Doom
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! 2 And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘Those who are destined for death, to death;
those who are destined for war, to war;
those who are destined for famine, to famine;
those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. 4 Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
5 “Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
Who will weep for you?
Who will even bother to ask how you are?
6 You have abandoned me
and turned your back on me,”
says the Lord.
“Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you.
I am tired of always giving you another chance.
7 I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities
and take away the children you hold dear.
I will destroy my own people,
because they refuse to change their evil ways.
8 There will be more widows
than the grains of sand on the seashore.
At noontime I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of young men.
I will cause anguish and terror
to come upon them suddenly.
9 The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath;
her sun has gone down while it is still day.
She sits childless now,
disgraced and humiliated.
And I will hand over those who are left
to be killed by the enemy.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
10 Then I said,
“What sorrow is mine, my mother.
Oh, that I had died at birth!
I am hated everywhere I go.
I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose
nor a borrower who refuses to pay—
yet they all curse me.”
11 The Lord replied,
“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.
Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf
in times of trouble and distress.
12 Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,
or a bar of bronze?
13 At no cost to them,
I will hand over your wealth and treasures
as plunder to your enemies,
for sin runs rampant in your land.
14 I will tell your enemies to take you
as captives to a foreign land.
For my anger blazes like a fire
that will burn forever.[a]”
15 Then I said,
“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.
Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
16 When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
17 I never joined the people in their merry feasts.
I sat alone because your hand was on me.
I was filled with indignation at their sins.
18 Why then does my suffering continue?
Why is my wound so incurable?
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
like a spring that has gone dry.”
19 This is how the Lord responds:
“If you return to me, I will restore you
so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!
20 They will fight against you like an attacking army,
but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.
They will not conquer you,
for I am with you to protect and rescue you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
21 Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
