¹Then the LORD said to me , “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me , yet my mind would not turn towards this people . Cast them out of my sight , and let them go out !

²It will happen when they ask you , ‘Where shall we go out ?’ then you shall tell them , ‘The LORD says :

“Such as are for death , to death ;

such as are for the sword , to the sword ;

such as are for the famine , to the famine ;

and such as are for captivity , to captivity .”’

³“I will appoint over them four kinds ,” says the LORD : “the sword to kill , the dogs to tear , the birds of the sky , and the animals of the earth , to devour and to destroy .

⁴I will cause them to be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh , the son of Hezekiah , king of Judah , for that which he did in Jerusalem .

⁵For who will have pity on you , Jerusalem ?

Who will mourn you ?

Who will come to ask of your welfare ?

⁶You have rejected me ,” says the LORD .

“You have gone backward.

Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you

and destroyed you .

I am weary of showing compassion .

⁷I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land.

I have bereaved them of children .

I have destroyed my people .

They didn’t return from their ways .

⁸Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas .

I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday .

I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly .

⁹She who has borne seven languishes.

She has given up the spirit .

Her sun has gone down while it was yet day .

She has been disappointed and confounded .

I will deliver their residue to the sword before their enemies,” says the LORD .

¹⁰Woe is me , my mother, that you have borne me , a man of strife ,

and a man of contention to the whole earth!

I have not lent , neither have men lent to me ;

yet every one of them curses me .

¹¹The LORD said,

“Most certainly I will strengthen you for good .

Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil

and in the time of affliction .

¹²Can one break iron ,

even iron from the north , and bronze ?

¹³I will give your substance and your treasures for a plunder without price ,

and that for all your sins ,

even in all your borders .

¹⁴I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know ;

for a fire is kindled in my anger ,

which will burn on you .”

¹⁵LORD , you know .

Remember me , visit me ,

and avenge me of my persecutors .

You are patient, so don’t take me away .

Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach .

¹⁶Your words were found ,

and I ate them .

Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart ,

for I am called by your name , LORD , God of Armies .

¹⁷I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice .

I sat alone because of your hand ,

for you have filled me with indignation .

¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual ,

and my wound incurable,

which refuses to be healed ?

Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook,

like waters that fail ?

¹⁹Therefore the LORD says ,

“If you return , then I will bring you again ,

that you may stand before me ;

and if you take out the precious from the vile ,

you will be as my mouth .

They will return to you ,

but you will not return to them .

²⁰I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall .

They will fight against you ,

but they will not prevail against you ;

for I am with you to save you

and to deliver you ,” says the LORD .

²¹“I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked ,

and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible .”