JPS - Jeremiah - 15

15:1  Then said HaShem unto me: 'Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people; cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.

15:2  And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? then thou shall tell them: Thus saith HaShem: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

15:3  And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith HaShem: the sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

15:4  And I will cause them to be a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

15:5  For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?

15:6  Thou hast cast Me off, saith HaShem, thou art gone backward; therefore do I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

15:7  And I fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I bereave them of children, I destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.

15:8  Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I bring upon them, against the mother, a chosen one, even a spoiler at noonday; I cause anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.

15:9  She that hath borne seven languisheth; her spirit droopeth; her sun is gone down while it was yet day, she is ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith HaShem.'

15:10  Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast 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 doth curse me.

15:11  HaShem said: 'Verily I will release thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

15:12  Can iron break iron from the north and brass?

15:13  Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

15:14  And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not; for a fire is kindled in My nostril, which shall burn upon you.'

15:15  Thou, O HaShem, knowest; remember me, and think of me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away because of Thy long-suffering; know that for Thy sake I have suffered taunts.

15:16  Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart; because Thy name was called on me, O HaShem G-d of hosts.

15:17  I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand; for Thou hast filled me with indignation.

15:18  Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, so that it refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?

15:19  Therefore thus saith HaShem: if thou return, and I bring thee back, thou shalt stand before Me; and if thou bring forth the precious out of the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth; let them return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.

15:20  And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith HaShem.

15:21  And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.