Jeremiah 15

Four Types of Calamity

¹Then Yahweh said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not be to this people. Send them away from my sight, and let them go out.[#Literally “to the face of me”; #Literally “face”]

²And then if they say to you, ‘Where shall we go?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,[#Literally “And it will happen”]

“Those who are destined for the plague, to the plague,

and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword,

and those who are destined for the famine, to the famine,

and those who are destined for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will summon over them four types of calamity,” declares Yahweh, “the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.[#Or “appoint”; #Literally “a declaration of”; #Hebrew “bird”; #Hebrew “wild animal”]

⁴And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“For who will have compassion on you, O Jerusalem,

⁶You have forsaken me,” declares Yahweh.[#Literally “a declaration of”]

and I have destroyed you.

⁷And I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land.

I have destroyed my people.

⁸Their widows will be more numerous before me than the sand of the seas.[#Hebrew “widow”]

a destroyer at noon.

⁹She who gave birth to seven has withered away.

Her sun set while still day.

And the remainder of them I will give to the sword

Jeremiah’s Lament and Yahweh’s Response

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

I have not lent out and I have not borrowed.

¹¹Yahweh said,

“Surely I will set you free to be good for you,

in a time of trouble,

¹²Can anyone break iron,

¹³I will give your wealth and your treasures

even because of all your sins,

¹⁴And I will make you serve your enemies

for a fire will kindle in my anger.

¹⁵You who know, O Yahweh, remember me, and attend to me,

You must take me away.

¹⁶Your words were found and I ate them,

even as the joy of my heart,

¹⁷I sat not in the assembly of jokers,

Because of the presence of your hand I sat alone,

¹⁸Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable?

Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook,

¹⁹Therefore thus says Yahweh,

“If you turn back, then I will take you back.

And if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless,

They will turn back to you,

²⁰And I will make you to this people

and they will fight against you,

for I am with you, to save you,

²¹“And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,