Jeremiah 15
15
1-2Then God said to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell them God says,
“‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die;
if assigned to war, go and get killed;
If assigned to starve, go starve;
if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’
3-4“I’ve arranged for four kinds of punishment: death in battle, the corpses dropped off by killer dogs, the rest picked clean by vultures, the bones gnawed by hyenas. They’ll be a sight to see, a sight to shock the whole world—and all because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah and all he did in Jerusalem.
5“Who do you think will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
Who do you think will waste tears on you?
Who will bother to take the time to ask,
‘So, how are things going?’
6-9“You left me, remember?” God’s Decree.
“You turned your back and walked out.
So I will grab you and hit you hard.
I’m tired of letting you off the hook.
I threw you to the four winds
and let the winds scatter you like leaves.
I made sure you’ll lose everything,
since nothing makes you change.
I created more widows among you
than grains of sand on the ocean beaches.
At noon mothers will get the news
of their sons killed in action.
Sudden anguish for the mothers—
all those terrible deaths.
A mother of seven falls to the ground,
gasping for breath,
Robbed of her children in their prime.
Her sun sets at high noon!
Then I’ll round up any of you that are left alive
and see that you’re killed by your enemies.”
God’s Decree.
Giving Everything Away for Nothing
10-11Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son,
given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country!
I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,
and yet everyone is out to get me.
But, God knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them,
prayed for them and against their enemies.
I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster.
God knows how I’ve tried!
* * *
12-14“O Israel, O Judah, what are your chances
against the iron juggernaut from the north?
In punishment for your sins, I’m giving away
everything you’ve got, giving it away for nothing.
I’ll make you slaves to your enemies
in a strange and far-off land.
My anger is blazing and fierce,
burning in hot judgment against you.”
* * *
15-18You know where I am, God! Remember what I’m doing here!
Take my side against my detractors.
Don’t stand back while they ruin me.
Just look at the abuse I’m taking!
When your words showed up, I ate them—
swallowed them whole. What a feast!
What delight I took in being yours,
O God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I never joined the party crowd
in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself.
You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.
But why, why this chronic pain,
this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?
You’re nothing, God, but a mirage,
a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!
* * *
19-21This is how God answered me:
“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.
Let your words change them.
Don’t change your words to suit them.
I’ll turn you into a steel wall,
a thick steel wall, impregnable.
They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you
because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.”
God’s Decree.
“I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked.
I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.”
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Jeremiah 15: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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.