Jeremiah 15 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Judgment Must Come

1Then the Lord said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would still not be toward this people. Send them away from My presence and out of My sight and let them go!

2And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those for death, to death;

Those for the sword, to the sword;

Those for famine, to famine;

Those for captivity, to captivity.” ’

3I will appoint four kinds of destroyers over them,” says the Lord, “the sword to slay, the dogs to tear and drag away, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.

4I will make them an object of horror to all nations of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for the things which he did in Jerusalem.

5¶“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,

Or who will mourn for you,

Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6“You have abandoned (rejected) Me,” says the Lord.

“You keep going backward.

Therefore I shall stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;

I am tired of delaying!

7“I will winnow (sort, separate) them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will deprive them of children, I will destroy My people;

They did not repent and turn from their ways.

8“I will make their widows more numerous before Me

Than the sand of the seas;

I will bring against them, against the mother of the young men,

A destroyer at noonday;

I will suddenly cause anguish and terror

To fall on her.

9“She who has borne seven languishes;

She has breathed out her soul.

Her sun has set while it was still day;

She has been shamed and humiliated.

So I will hand over the survivors to the sword

Before their enemies,” says the Lord.

10¶Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me

To be a man of strife and a man of contention to all the earth!

I have not loaned, nor have men lent money to me,

Yet everyone curses me.

11The Lord said, “Surely I will set you free for good purposes;

Surely I will cause the enemy to plead with you

In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

12¶“Can anyone crush iron,

The iron from the north, or bronze?

13“Your riches and your treasures

I will give as plunder without price,

Because of all your sins

And within all your territories.

14“Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions

Into a land which you do not know;

For a fire has been kindled in My anger,

Which will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

15¶O Lord, You know and understand;

Remember me, take notice of me,

take vengeance for me on my persecutors.

Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;

Know that for Your sake I endure rebuke and dishonor.

16Your words were found and I ate them,

And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;

For I have been called by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

17I did not sit with the group of those who celebrate,

Nor did I rejoice;

I sat alone because Your hand was upon me,

For You had filled me with indignation.

18Why has my pain been perpetual

And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?

Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brook

With water that is unreliable?

19¶Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“If you repent, then I will restore you

So that you may stand before Me;

And if you separate the precious from the worthless,

You will become My spokesman.

Let the people turn to you—

But you, you must not turn to them.

20“And I will make you to this people

A fortified wall of bronze;

They will fight against you,

But they will not prevail over you,

For I am with you to save you

And protect you,” says the Lord.

21“So I will rescue you out of the hand of the wicked,

And I will redeem you from the palm of the terrible and ruthless.”