1. Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
2. And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says 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 forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4. I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5. “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?Or who will bemoan you?Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
6. You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,“You have gone backward.Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;I am weary of relenting!
7. And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;I will bereave them of children;I will destroy My people,Since they do not return from their ways.
8. Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;I will bring against them,Against the mother of the young men,A plunderer at noonday;I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.
9. “She languishes who has borne seven;She has breathed her last;Her sun has gone downWhile it was yet day;She has been ashamed and confounded.And the remnant of them I will deliver to the swordBefore their enemies,” says the Lord.
10. Woe is me, my mother,That you have borne me,A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!I have neither lent for interest,Nor have men lent to me for interest.Every one of them curses me.
11. The Lord said:“Surely it will be well with your remnant;Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with youIn the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
12. Can anyone break iron,The northern iron and the bronze?
13. Your wealth and your treasuresI will give as plunder without price,Because of all your sins,Throughout your territories.