Jeremiah 15
15
1The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel were here to pray for the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for them. Send the people of Judah away from me! Tell them to go! 2They might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ Tell them this is what the Lord says:
“‘I have chosen some people to die.
They will die.
I have chosen some to be killed with swords.
They will be killed with swords.
I have chosen some to die from hunger.
They will die from hunger.
I have chosen some to be taken away to a foreign country.
They will be prisoners there.
3I will send four kinds of destroyers against them.’
This message is from the Lord.
‘I will send the enemy with a sword to kill.
I will send the dogs to drag their bodies away.
I will send birds of the air and wild animals
to eat and destroy their bodies.
4I will make the people of Judah
an example of something terrible for all the people on earth.
I will do this to the people of Judah
because of what Manasseh#15:4 Manasseh Manasseh was the most evil king of Judah according to 2 Kings 21:1-16. He worshiped many gods. did in Jerusalem.
Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.
Manasseh was a king of Judah.’
5“No one will feel sorry for you, city of Jerusalem.
No one will be sad and cry for you.
No one will go out of their way to even ask how you are.
6Jerusalem, you left me.”
This message is from the Lord.
“Again and again you left me!
So I will punish and destroy you.
I am tired of holding back your punishment.
7I will separate the people of Judah with my pitchfork.#15:7 pitchfork A tool with sharp points for throwing hay from one place to another.
I will scatter them at the city gates of the land.
My people have not changed,
so I will destroy them.
I will take away their children.
8Many women will lose their husbands.
There will be more widows than there is sand in the sea.
I will bring a destroyer at noontime.
The destroyer will attack the mothers of the young men of Judah.
I will bring pain and fear on the people of Judah.
I will make this happen very quickly.
9The enemy will attack with swords and kill the people.
They will kill the survivors from Judah.
A woman with seven children will lose them.
She will cry until she becomes weak and struggles to breathe.
She will be upset and confused,
because her bright day has become dark.”
This message is from the Lord.
Jeremiah Complains to God Again
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.
11Surely, Lord, I have served you well.
In times of disaster and trouble,
I prayed to you about my enemies.
God Answers Jeremiah
12“Jeremiah, you know that no one
can shatter a piece of iron.
I mean the kind of iron that is from the north.#15:12 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
And no one can shatter a piece of bronze either.
13The people of Judah have many treasures.
I will give these riches to other people.
They will not have to buy them,
because Judah has many sins.
The people sinned in every part of Judah.
14People of Judah, I will make you slaves of your enemies.
You will be slaves in a land that you never knew.
I am very angry.
My anger is like a hot fire,
and you will be burned.”
15Lord, you understand me.
Remember me and take care of me.
People are hurting me.
Give them the punishment they deserve.
You are being patient with them.
But don’t destroy me while you remain patient with them.
Think about me.
Think about the pain I suffer for you.
16Your words came to me, and I ate them up.
They made me very happy.
I was glad to be called by your name,
Lord God All-Powerful.
17I never sat with the crowd
as they laughed and had fun.
I sat by myself because of your influence on me.
You filled me with anger at the evil around me.
18I don’t understand why I still hurt.
I don’t understand why my wound is not cured and cannot be healed.
I think you have changed.
You are like a spring of water that became dry.
You are like a spring whose water has stopped flowing.
19Then the Lord said, “Jeremiah, if you change and come back to me,
I will not punish you.
If you change and come back to me,
then you may serve me.
If you speak important things, not worthless words,
then you may speak for me.
The people of Judah should change and come back to you.
But don’t you change and be like them.
20I will make you strong.
The people will think you are strong,
like a wall made of bronze.
The people of Judah will fight against you,
but they will not defeat you.
They will not defeat you,
because I am with you.
I will help you, and I will save you.”
This message is from the Lord.
21“I will save you from these evil people.
They frighten you, but I will save you from them.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremias (Jeremiah) 15
15
1And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before me, my soul is not towards this people. Cast them out from my sight and let them go forth.
2And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? Thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Such as are for death, to death: and such as are for the sword, to the sword: and such as are for famine, to famine: and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
3And I will visit them with four kinds, saith the Lord: The sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
4And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem.
5For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go to pray for thy peace?
6Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee. I am weary of entreating thee.
7And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned from their ways.
8Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities.
9She that hath borne seven is become weak, her soul hath fainted away, her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she is confounded and ashamed. And the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the sight of their enemies, saith the Lord.
10Woe is me, my mother! Why hast thou borne me, a man of strife, a man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.
11The Lord saith to me: Assuredly it shall be well with thy remnant, assuredly I shall help thee in the time of affliction and in the time of tribulation, against the enemy.
12Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the brass?
13Thy riches and thy treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing, because of all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14And I will bring thy enemies out of a land which thou knowest not, for a fire is kindled in my rage: it shall burn upon you.
15O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and defend me from them that persecute me: do not defend me in thy patience, know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.
16Thy words were found, and I did eat them: and thy word was to me a joy and gladness of my heart, for thy name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts.
17I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with threats.
18Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as to refuse to be healed? It is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face: and if thou wilt separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. They shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.
20And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass: and they shall fight against thee and shall not prevail. For I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
21And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.