1 Then the LORD said unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, [yet] my will [would] not [be] toward this people: cast [them] out of my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Where shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus hath the LORD said: 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 the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will visit over them four kinds [of evil], saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 And I will give them over to be sifted by all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for [that] which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who is to come to ask regarding thy peace?
6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD; thou art gone backward: therefore, I stretched out my hand over thee and cast thee away; I am tired of repenting.
7 And I fanned them with a fan unto the gates of the land; I bereaved [them] of children, I wasted my people; they did not turn from their ways.
8 Their widows are multiplied unto me more than the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them a destroyer at noonday against the young; I have caused [him] to fall upon her suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She that has borne seven languishes; her soul is filled with sorrow; her sun is gone down while [it was] yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
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 neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them curses me.
11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee [well] in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north [wind] and the bronze?
13 Thy riches and thy treasures I will give to the spoil without price, and [that] for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will make [thee] to serve thine enemies in a land [which] thou dost not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, [which] shall burn upon you.
15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me and visit me and revenge me of my enemies; do not take me away in the prolongation of thy anger, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Thy words were found, and I ate them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for thy name was called upon me, O LORD God of the hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I become puffed up by reason of thy prophecy; I sat alone because thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why was my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, [which] refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar [and as] waters [that] fail?
19 Therefore thus hath the LORD said, If thou wilt return, then I will bring thee again, [and] thou shalt stand before me; and if thou wilt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth; let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.
20 And I will give thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee: for I [am] with thee to keep thee and to defend thee, said the LORD.
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will ransom thee out of the hand of the strong.: