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! ²And 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.”’

³And 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. ⁴I 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?
⁶You 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!
⁷I 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.
⁸Their ^(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.
⁹She 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.
¹¹The 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?
¹³I will give your ^(AG)wealth and your treasures
As plunder ^(AH)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
¹⁴Then 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.
¹⁶Your 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.
¹⁷I ^(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.
¹⁸Why 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?

¹⁹Therefore, 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.
²⁰Then 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.”