CHAPTER 15

¹And the LORD said, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, I would have nothing to do with this people. Send them away from Me and let them go out. ²And should they say to you, ‘Where shall we go out?,’ you shall say to them: Thus said the LORD:

                 Who for death—to death,

                     and who for the sword—to the sword,

                         and who for captivity—to captivity.

³And I will set over you four clans, said the LORD, the sword to kill and the dogs to drag and the fowl of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy. ⁴And I will make them a horror for all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”

                 ⁵For who will pity you, O Jerusalem,

                     and who will console you,

                 and who will turn aside to ask

                     how you fare?

                 ⁶You abandoned Me, said the LORD,

                     backward you did go,

                 and I reached out My hand against you and destroyed you,

                     I could not relent.

                 ⁷And I winnowed them with a winnowing fork

                     in the gates of the land.

                 I bereaved, destroyed My people—

                     from their ways they did not turn back.

                 ⁸Its widows were more numerous to Me

                     than the sand of the seas.

                 I brought upon them, on mother and young man as well,

                     a despoiler at noon.

                 I let fall on them all of a sudden

                     alarm and panic.

                 ⁹Forlorn is she who bore seven,

                     she has gasped out her life-breath.

                 Her sun has gone down while it was still day.

                     She was shamed and disgraced.

                 And their remnant to the sword I will give

                     before their enemies, said the LORD.

                 ¹⁰Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me,

                     a man of quarrel and a man of strife to all the land.

                 I have not loaned nor did they lend to me,

                     yet all of them curse me.

                 ¹¹Said the LORD: “Have I not bolstered you for good?

                     Have I not made the enemy plead for your intercession

                         in a time of evil and a time of distress?

                 ¹²Can iron shatter iron

                     from the north, or bronze?

                 ¹³Your wealth and your treasures

                     I will turn to spoils, cost-free,

                         for all your offenses, through all your regions.

                 ¹⁴And I will make you serve your enemies

                     in a land you do not know.

                 For fire rages in My nostrils,

                     against you it burns.”

                 ¹⁵It is You Who knows, O LORD.

                     Recall me and take account of me

                         and avenge me of my pursuers.

                 Do not take me back in Your anger’s slowness.

                     Know that I bore disgrace for You.

                 ¹⁶Your words were found and I ate them,

                     and your words became gladness for me

                 and my heart’s rejoicing, for Your name was called upon me—

                     the LORD God of Armies.

                 ¹⁷I did not sit in the gathering of revelers to make merry.

                     Because of Your hand, alone I sat,

                         for with wrath You filled me.

                 ¹⁸Why is my pain everlasting

                     and my blow grievous, resistant to healing?

                 You have surely been to me a dried-up spring,

                     waters not to be trusted.

                 ¹⁹Therefore thus said the LORD:

                     “If you turn back, I will bring you back,

                         before Me you shall stand.

                     And if you bring out what is precious from trash,

                         you shall be as My mouth.

                     It is they who shall turn back to you,

                         and you shall not turn back to them.

                 ²⁰And I will make you for this people

                     a fortified wall of bronze.

                 And they shall do battle against you

                     and shall not prevail over you.

                 For I am with you

                     to rescue you and to save you, said the LORD.

                 ²¹And I will save you from the hand of the wicked,

                     and redeem you from the clutch of the ruthless.”