¶ Then spake the LORD unto me, and said: Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet have I no heart to this people. Drive them away, that they may go out of my sight.
And if they say unto thee: Whither shall we go? Then tell them: The LORD giveth you this answer: Some unto death, some to the sword, some to hunger, some into captivity.
For I will bring four plagues upon them sayeth the LORD. The sword shall strangle them, the dogs shall devour them, the fowls of the air, and beasts of the earth shall eat them up, and destroy them.
I will scatter them about also in all kingdoms and lands to be plagued, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Iuda, for the things that he did in Ierusalem.
Who shall then have pity upon thee, O Ierusalem? Who shall be sorry for thee? Or who shall make intercession, to obtain peace for thee?
seeing thou goest from me, and turnest backward? sayeth the LORD: Therefore I will stretch out mine hand against thee, to destroy thee, and I will not be entreated.
I will scatter thee abroad with the fan on every side of the land: I will waste my people and destroy them, for they have had no lust to turn from their own ways.
I will make their widows more in number, then the sands of the sea. Upon the mothers of their children, I shall bring a destroyer in the noon day. Suddenly and unawares, shall I send a fear upon their cities.
She that hath born seven children, shall have none, her heart shall be full of sorrow. The Sun shall fail her in the clear day, when she shall be confounded and faint for very heaviness. As for those that remain, I will deliver them unto the sword of their enemies, sayeth the LORD.
¶ O mother, alas that ever thou didst bear me, an enemy and hated of the whole land: Though I never lent nor received upon usury, yet all men speak evil upon me.
And the LORD answered me: Lead not I thee then unto good? Come not I to thee, when thou art in trouble: and help thee, when thine enemy oppresseth thee?
Doth one iron hurt another, or one metal that cometh from the North, another?
As for your riches and treasure, I will give them out in to a pray, not for any money, but because of all your sins, that ye have done in all your coasts.
And I will bring you with your enemies in to a land, that ye know not: for the fire that is kindled in my indignation, shall burn you up.
¶ O LORD (said I then) thou knowest all things, therefore remember me, and visit me, deliver me from my persecutors: Receive not my cause in thy long wrath, yet thou knowest, that for thy sake I suffer rebuke.
When I had found thy words, I ate them up greedily: they have made my heart joyful and glad for I call upon thy name, O LORD God of Hosts.
I dwell not among the [council of] scorners, neither is my delight therein: but I dwell only in the fear of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with bitterness.
Shall my heaviness endure forever? Are my plagues then so great, that they may never be healed? Wilt thou be as a water, that falleth, and can not continue?
Upon these words, thus said the LORD unto me: If thou wilt turn again, I shall set thee in my service: and if thou wilt take out the thing that is precious from the vile, thou shalt be even as mine own mouth. They shall convert unto thee, but turn not thou unto them:
and so shall I make thee a strong wall of steel against this people. They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail. For I myself will be with thee, to help thee, and deliver thee, sayeth the LORD.
And I will rid thee out of the hands of the wicked, and deliver thee out of the hand of Tyrants.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.