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.