Jeremiah 15

1The Lord said to me: “I would not feel sorry for the people of Judah even if Moses and Samuel prayed for them. Send the people away from me! Tell them to go! 2They might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ You tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord says:

Some people are meant to die.

And they will die.

Some are meant to die in war.

And they will die in war.

Some are meant to die from hunger.

And they will die from hunger.

Some are meant to be taken as slaves to a foreign country.

And they will become slaves in that foreign country.’

3“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send war to kill. I will send dogs to drag the bodies away. I will send birds of the air and wild animals. They will eat and destroy the bodies. 4I will make the people of Judah hated by everyone on earth. I will do this because of what Manasseh did in Jerusalem. (Manasseh son of Hezekiah was king of the nation of Judah.)

5“Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?

Who will be sad and cry for you?

Who will go out of his way to ask how you are?

6Jerusalem, you have left me,” says the Lord.

“You keep going farther and farther away.

So I will take hold of you and destroy you.

I am tired of holding back my anger.

7I will separate the people of Judah with my pitchfork.

I will scatter them at the city gates of the land.

My people haven’t changed their ways.

So I will destroy them.

I will take away their children.

8Many women will lose their husbands.

There will be more widows than the sand of the sea.

I will bring a destroyer at noontime

against the mothers of the young men of Judah.

I will suddenly bring pain and fear

on the people of Judah.

9The enemy will attack.

I will still hand over to the killers those who are left alive from Judah.

A woman might have seven sons, but they will all die.

She will cry until she becomes weak and unable to breathe.

She will be upset and confused.

Her bright day will become dark from sadness!” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Second Complaint

10Mother, I am sorry that you gave birth to me.

I am the one who must accuse and criticize the whole land.

I have not loaned or borrowed anything.

But everyone curses me.

11The Lord said,

“I will save you for a good reason.

I will make your enemies beg you

in times of disaster and trouble.

12No one can smash a piece of iron or bronze.

I mean the kind of iron and bronze that comes from the north.

13The people of Judah have wealth and treasures.

But I will freely give those riches to others.

This is because the people of Judah have sinned

throughout the country.

14I will make you slaves to your enemies.

You will be slaves in a land that you have never known.

My anger is like a hot fire.

And it will burn against you.”

15Lord, you understand.

Remember me and take care of me.

Punish for me the people who are hurting me.

Don’t destroy me while you remain patient with them.

Think about the pain I suffer for you, Lord.

16Your words came to me, and I listened carefully to them.

Your words made me very happy.

I was happy because I am called by your name.

Your name is the Lord God of heaven’s armies.

17I never sat with the crowd

as they laughed and had fun.

I sat by myself because you were there.

You filled me with anger at the evil around me.

18I don’t understand why my pain has no end.

I don’t understand why my injury is not cured or healed!

Lord, will you be like a brook that goes dry?

Will you be like a spring whose water stops flowing?

19So this is what the Lord says:

“If you change your heart and come back to me, I will take you back.

Then you may serve me.

You must speak things that have worth.

You must not speak useless words.

Then you may speak for me.

Let the people of Judah turn to you.

But you must not change and be like them.

20I will make you as strong as a wall to this people.

You will be as strong as a wall of bronze.

They will fight against you.

But they will not defeat you.

This is because I am with you.

I will rescue you and save you,” says the Lord.

21“I will save you from these evil people.

I will save you from these cruel people.”

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Jeremiah 15

1 And the Lord said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my soul would not be toward this people. Cast them away from my face, and let them depart!

2 And if they say to you, 'Where shall we go?' you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Those who go to death, shall go to death. And those who go to the sword, shall go to the sword, and those go to famine, shall go to famine, and those who go to captivity, shall go to captivity.

3 And I will visit against them in four ways, says the Lord: by the sword, to kill; and by dogs, to tear apart; and by the birds of the air and by the beasts of the earth, to devour and to scatter.

4 And I will give them over to the fervor of all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of all that he did in Jerusalem.

5 For who will take pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will feel sorrow for you? Or who will go to prayer for the sake of your peace?

6 You have abandoned me, says the Lord. You have gone backwards. And so, I will extend my hand over you, and I will destroy you. I have labored to plead with you.

7 And I will scatter them with a winnowing fan at the gates of the land. I have killed and dispersed my people, and yet they have not turned back from their ways.

8 Their widows have been multiplied by me, more so than the sand of the sea. I have led them against the mother of a youth like an attacker at midday. I have sent a terror suddenly against the cities.

9 She who gave birth to seven has become weak. Her life has faded away. Her sun has set while it was still daytime. She has been confounded and shamed. And the remainder of them I will give over to the sword in the sight of their enemies, says the Lord."

10 "O my mother, woe to me! Why did you conceive me, a man of strife, a man of discord to all the earth? I have not lent money at interest, nor has anyone lent money at interest to me. Yet everyone is cursing me."

11 The Lord says: "Certainly, it will be well with your remnant. Certainly, I will run to meet you, in the time of affliction and in the time of tribulation, against the enemy.

12 But how can iron be joined with the iron from the north or with brass?

13 Your riches and your treasures I will give over to be freely despoiled, because of all your sins, even throughout all your borders.

14 And I will lead in your enemies from a land that you do not know. For a fire has been kindled in my fury; it will burn upon you."

15 "You know me, O Lord. Remember me, and visit me, and watch over me, because of those who persecute me. In your patience, do not choose to let me endure. You know I have suffered reproach because of you.

16 I discovered your words and I consumed them. And your word became to me as the gladness and joy of my heart. For your name has been invoked over me, O Lord, the God of hosts.

17 I did not sit in the company of mockers, nor did I glorify myself before the presence of your hand. I sat alone, because you filled me with threats.

18 Why has my sorrow become never-ending, and why has my wound become so dire that it refuses to be cured? It has become for me like the deception of untrustworthy waters."

19 Because of this, thus says the Lord: "If you will be converted, I will convert you. And you will stand before my face. And you will separate what is precious from what is vile. You will be my mouthpiece. They will be converted to you, but you will not be converted to them.

20 And I will present you to this people as a strong wall of brass. And they will fight against you, and they will not prevail. For I am with you, so as to save you and to rescue you, says the Lord.

21 And I will free you from hand of those who are most wicked, and I will redeem you from the hand of the powerful."

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