God is determined to punish the Jews for their sins. The prophet's
complaint, and God's promise to him.
15:1. And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before
me, my soul is not towards this people: cast them out from my sight, and
let them go forth.
15:2. And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? thou
shalt say to 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 famine,
to famine: and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
15:3. And I will visit them with four kinds, saith the Lord: The sword
to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts
of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
15:4. And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the
earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all
that he did in Jerusalem.
15:5. For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan
thee? or who shall go to pray for thy peace?
15:6. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: and
I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee: I am
weary of entreating thee.
15:7. And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I
have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned from
their ways.
15:8. Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I
have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at
noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities.
15:9. She that hath borne seven is become weak, her soul hath fainted
away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day: she is confounded, and
ashamed: and the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the
sight of their enemies, saith the Lord.
15:10. Woe is me, my mother: why hast thou borne me a man of strife, a
man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither
hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.
15:11. The Lord saith to me: Assuredly it shall be well with thy
remnant, assuredly I shall help thee in the time of affliction, and in
the time of tribulation against the enemy.
15:12. Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the brass?
Shall iron be allied, etc... Shall the iron, that is, the strength of
Juda, stand against the stronger iron of the north, that is, of Babylon:
or enter into an alliance upon equal footing with it? No certainly: but
it must be broken by it.
15:13. Thy riches and thy treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing,
because of all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
15:14. And I will bring thy enemies out of a land, which thou knowest
not: for a fire is kindled in my rage, it shall burn upon you.
15:15. O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and defend me
from them that persecute me, do not defend me in thy patience: know that
for thy sake I have suffered reproach.
Do not defend me in thy patience... That is, let not thy patience and
longsuffering, which thou usest towards sinners, keep thee from making
haste to my assistance.
15:16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me
a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord
God of hosts.
15:17. I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of
the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with
threats.
15:18. Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as
to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful
waters that cannot be trusted.
15:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will
convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and thou wilt
separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they
shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.
15:20. And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass:
and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with
thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
15:21. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will
redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.