Jeremiah 14:14-15:19

English Standard Version

¹⁴And the Lord said to me: “The ^(A)prophets are prophesying lies in my name. ^(B)I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, ^(C)worthless divination, and ^(D)the deceit of their own minds. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although ^(E)I did not send them, and who say, ^(F)‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: ^(G)By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, ^(H)with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.

¹⁷“You shall say to them this word:
^(I)‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
    and let them not cease,
for the virgin ^(J)daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
    ^(K)with a very grievous blow.
¹⁸^(L)If I go out into the field,
    behold, those pierced by the sword!
^(M)And if I enter the city,
    behold, the diseases of famine!
^(N)For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land
    and have no knowledge.’”

¹⁹^(O)Have you utterly rejected Judah?
    Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
    ^(P)so that there is no healing for us?
^(Q)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    ^(R)for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
²⁰^(S)We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
    and the iniquity of our fathers,
    ^(T)for we have sinned against you.
²¹Do not spurn us, ^(U)for your name's sake;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne;
    ^(V)remember and do not break your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among ^(W)the false gods of the nations ^(X)that can bring rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
    We set our hope on you,
    ^(Y)for you do all these things.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(Z)“Though ^(AA)Moses ^(AB)and Samuel ^(AC)stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! ²And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(AD)“‘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^(AE)I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and ^(AF)the birds of the air ^(AG)and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴^(AH)And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what ^(AI)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵^(AJ)“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    ^(AK)or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
⁶^(AL)You have rejected me, declares the Lord;
    ^(AM)you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    ^(AN)I am weary of relenting.
⁷^(AO)I have winnowed them with ^(AP)a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    ^(AQ)they did not turn from their ways.
⁸I have made their widows more in number
    than ^(AR)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^(AS)She who bore seven has grown feeble;
    ^(AT)she has fainted away;
^(AU)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,
declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

¹⁰^(AV)Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! ^(AW)I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. ¹¹The Lord said, “Have I not^[a] set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress? ¹²Can one break iron, iron ^(AX)from the north, and bronze?

¹³^(AY)“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as ^(AZ)spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. ¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies ^(BA)in a land that you do not know, ^(BB)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

¹⁵^(BC)O Lord, you know;
    ^(BD)remember me and visit me,
    ^(BE)^(BF)and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    ^(BG)know that ^(BH)for your sake I bear reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found, ^(BI)and I ate them,
    and ^(BJ)your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
^(BK)for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.
¹⁷^(BL)I did not sit in the company of revelers,
    nor did I rejoice;
^(BM)I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
    for you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,
    ^(BN)my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me ^(BO)like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(BP)“If you return, I will restore you,
    and you shall ^(BQ)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.