Jeremiah 15
15
Judah’s Inevitable Doom
1Then 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! 2And 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. 4Because 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?
6You 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.
7I 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.
8There 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.
9The 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
10Then 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.”
11The 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.
12Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,
or a bar of bronze?
13At no cost to them,
I will hand over your wealth and treasures
as plunder to your enemies,
for sin runs rampant in your land.
14I will tell your enemies to take you
as captives to a foreign land.
For my anger blazes like a fire
that will burn forever.#15:14 As in some Hebrew manuscripts (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts read will burn against you.”
15Then 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.
16When 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.
17I 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.
18Why 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.”
19This 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!
20They 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!
21Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 15: NLT
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT:
Jeremiah 15
15
Jeremiah 15
1¶ Then the Lord said unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my will would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Where shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus hath the Lord said: 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 captivity, to the captivity.
3And I will visit over them four kinds of evil, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4And I will give them over to be sifted by all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who is to come to ask regarding thy peace?
6Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward: therefore, I stretched out my hand over thee and cast thee away; I am tired of repenting.
7And I fanned them with a fan unto the gates of the land; I bereaved them of children, I wasted my people; they did not turn from their ways.
8Their widows are multiplied unto me more than the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them a destroyer at noonday against the young; I have caused him to fall upon her suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9She that has borne seven languishes; her soul is filled with sorrow; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.
10¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them curses me.
11The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?
13Thy riches and thy treasures I will give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14And I will make thee to serve thine enemies in a land which thou dost not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.
15¶ O Lord, thou knowest: remember me and visit me and revenge me of my enemies; do not take me away in the prolongation of thy anger, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16Thy words were found, and I ate them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for thy name was called upon me, O Lord God of the hosts.
17I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I become puffed up by reason of thy prophecy; I sat alone because thou hast filled me with indignation.
18Why was my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail?
19Therefore thus hath the Lord said, If thou wilt return, then I will bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me; and if thou wilt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth; let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.
20And I will give thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to keep thee and to defend thee, said the Lord.
21And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will ransom thee out of the hand of the strong.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International