Jeremiah 15 New King James Version

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Even if ^(B)Moses and ^(C)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[a]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. ²And 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 ^(E)captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will ^(F)appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, ^(G)the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will hand them over to ^(H)trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of ^(I)Manasseh 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^(J)You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,
“You have ^(K)gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
^(L)I am ^[b]weary of relenting!
⁷And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will ^(M)bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they ^(N)do not return from their ways.
⁸Their 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 ^(O)suddenly.

⁹“She^(P) languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
^(Q)Her 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^(R)Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole ^[c]earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.

¹¹The Lord said:

“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause ^(S)the enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
¹²Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
¹³Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as ^(T)plunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
¹⁴And I will ^[d]make you cross over with your enemies
^(U)Into a land which you do not know;
For a ^(V)fire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”

¹⁵O Lord, ^(W)You know;
Remember me and ^[e]visit me,
And ^(X)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that ^(Y)for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ^(Z)ate them,
And ^(AA)Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
¹⁷^(AB)I 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.
¹⁸Why is my ^(AC)pain perpetual
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me ^(AD)like an unreliable stream,
As waters that ^[f]fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(AE)“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall ^(AF)stand before Me;
If you ^(AG)take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze ^(AH)wall;
And they will fight against you,
But ^(AI)they 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.”