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¹ 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, when they say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? then thou shall 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 captivity, to captivity.³ And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.⁴ And I will cause them to be a horror among 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 shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?⁶ Thou hast cast Me off, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward; therefore do I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.⁷ And I fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I bereave them of children, I destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.⁸ Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I bring upon them, against the mother, a chosen one, even a spoiler at noonday; I cause anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.⁹ She that hath borne seven languisheth; her spirit droopeth; her sun is gone down while it was yet day, she is 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 not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me. ¹¹ The LORD said: 'Verily I will release thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.¹² Can iron break iron from the north and brass?¹³ Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a 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 My nostril, which shall burn upon you.'

¹⁵ Thou, O LORD, knowest; remember me, and think of me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away because of Thy long-suffering; know that for Thy sake I have suffered taunts.¹⁶ Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart; because Thy name was called on me, O LORD God of hosts. ¹⁷ I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, 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, so that it refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail? ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the LORD: if thou return, and I bring thee back, thou shalt stand before Me; and if thou bring forth the precious out of the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth; let them return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.²⁰ And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen 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.