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15. Drought, Famine, Sword

¹ Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! ² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says:

“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’

³ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

    ⁵ “Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
   Who will mourn for you?
   Who will stop to ask how you are?
⁶ You have rejected me,” declares the LORD.
   “You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
   I am tired of holding back.
⁷ I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
   at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
   for they have not changed their ways.
⁸ I will make their widows more numerous
   than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
   against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
   anguish and terror.
⁹ The mother of seven will grow faint
   and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
   she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
   before their enemies,” declares the LORD.

    ¹⁰ Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
   a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
   yet everyone curses me.

¹¹ The LORD said,

   “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
   surely I will make your enemies plead with you
   in times of disaster and times of distress.

¹² “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north—or bronze?

    ¹³ “Your wealth and your treasures
   I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
   throughout your country.
¹⁴ I will enslave you to your enemies
   in Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
   that will burn against you.”

    ¹⁵ LORD, you understand;
   remember me and care for me.
   Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
   think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
¹⁶ When your words came, I ate them;
   they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
   LORD God Almighty.
¹⁷ I never sat in the company of revelers,
   never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
   and you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸ Why is my pain unending
   and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
   like a spring that fails.

¹⁹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “If you repent, I will restore you
   that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
   you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
   but you must not turn to them.
²⁰ I will make you a wall to this people,
   a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
   but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
   to rescue and save you,” declares the LORD.
²¹ “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
   and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

This verse contains nothing new, but is a confirmation of the promise which we have seen. God had promised to be with the Prophet; he now shews that there was sufficient strength in his hand to deliver him. How much soever then the Jews might oppose him, God declares here that he alone would be sufficient to break them down. We hence see that there is more expressed in these words than in what he had said before, I will be with thee to deliver thee; he now shews the act itself as by the finger. I will deliver thee He had promised his aid; he now says, that his aid would be strong enough to deliver him from the hands of his enemies.

He says first, from the hand of the wicked, that the Jews might know that all their disguises would avail them nothing, for they were condemned by the mouth of God. In the second place, he calls them strong, that the Prophet might not be terrified by their power, as was usually the case. For it is very difficult for us not to be disturbed, when we are assailed on every side, and when threats and dangers are in our way. God then here reminds Jeremiah in time, that he would have to fight with the strong and valiant, but that all their strength in opposing him would be unavailing, for divine aid would be much stronger. Now follows —