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THEN
said the LORD 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.
2 And it
shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither
shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; 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 appoint over them four kinds, 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 cause them to be removed into all 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 shall go aside to ask how thou
doest?
6 Thou
hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I
stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
7 And I
will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them
of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their
ways.
8 Their
widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them
against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him
to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She
that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone
down while it was yet day: she hath been
ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I 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 doth curse 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 northern iron and the steel?
13 Thy
substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price,
and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I
will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou
knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon
you.
15 O
LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I
have suffered rebuke.
16 Thy
words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
17 I sat
not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy
hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why
is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be
healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and
as waters that fail?
19 Therefore
thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring
thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou 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 make thee unto this people a fenced brasen 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 the LORD.
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.
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