The LORD Will Not Change

1Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not turn toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

2And it shall come to pass, if they say unto you, Where shall we go forth? 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.

3And I will appoint over them four kinds, says 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.

4And 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.

5For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go aside to ask how you do?

6You have forsaken me, says the LORD, you are gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary of relenting.

7And 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.

8Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9She that has borne seven languishes: she has breathed her last; her sun has gone down while it was yet day: she has been ashamed and confounded: and the rest of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD.

10Woe 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 men have lent to me for interest; yet everyone of them does curse me.

11The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with your remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to treat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

12Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and the bronze?

13Your wealth and your treasures will I give as plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.

14And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you know not: for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.

15O LORD, you know: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.

16Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts.

17I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand: for you have filled me with indignation.

18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you be altogether unto me as a deceitful brook, and as waters that fail?

The LORD Will Deliver

19Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you again, and you shall stand before me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return unto you; but return not you unto them.

20And I will make you unto this people a fortified bronze wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD.

21And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.