The LORD's Unrepenting Anger with Judah

151 Then the Lord said to me, "Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people ; send them away from My presence and let them go ! 2 "And it shall be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go ?' then you are to tell them, 'Thus says the Lord : "Those destined for death , to death ; And those destined for the sword , to the sword ; And those destined for famine , to famine ; And those destined for captivity , to captivity ."' 3 "I will appoint over them four kinds of doom," declares the Lord : "the sword to slay , the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy . 4 "I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh , the son of Hezekiah , the king of Judah , for what he did in Jerusalem . 5 "Indeed , who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem , Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare ? 6 "You who have forsaken Me," declares the Lord , "You keep going backward . So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting ! 7 "I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land ; I will bereave them of children , I will destroy My people ; They did not repent of their ways . 8 "Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas ; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man , A destroyer at noonday ; I will suddenly bring down on her Anguish and dismay . 9 "She who bore seven sons pines away ; Her breathing is labored . Her sun has set while it was yet day ; She has been shamed and humiliated . So I will give over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies ," declares the Lord .

10 Woe to me, my mother , that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land ! I have not lent , nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me. 11 The Lord said , "Surely e I will set you free for purposes of good ; Surely e I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you In a time of disaster and a time of distress . 12 "Can anyone smash iron , Iron from the north , or bronze ? 13 "Your wealth and your treasures I will give for booty without cost , Even for all your sins And within all your borders . 14 "Then I will cause your enemies to bring it Into a land you do not know ; For a fire has been kindled in My anger , It will burn upon you."

The LORD's Assurance to Jeremiah

15 You who know , O Lord , Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors . Do not, in view of Your patience , take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach . 16 Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart ; For I have been called by Your name , O Lord God of hosts . 17 I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers , Nor did I exult . Because e of Your hand upon me I sat alone , For You filled me with indignation . 18 Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable , refusing to be healed ? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable e ? 19 Therefore , thus says the Lord , " If you return , then I will restore you- Before Me you will stand ; And if you extract the precious from the worthless , You will become My spokesman . They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them. 20 "Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze ; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you," declares the Lord . 21 "So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked , And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent ."

31 God says , " If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man , Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted ? But you are a harlot with many lovers ; Yet you turn to Me," declares the Lord . 2 "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see ; Where have you not been violated ? By the roads you have sat for them Like an Arab in the desert , And you have polluted a land With your harlotry and with your wickedness . 3 "Therefore the showers have been withheld , And there has been no spring rain . Yet you had a harlot's e forehead ; You refused to be ashamed . 4 "Have you not just now called to Me, ' My Father , You are the friend of my youth ? 5 ' Will He be angry forever ? Will He be indignant to the end ?' Behold , you have spoken And have done evil things , And you have had your way ."

Israel and Judah Entreated to Repent

6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king , "Have you seen what faithless Israel did ? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree , and she was a harlot there . 7 " I thought , 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me'; but she did not return , and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel , I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce , yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear ; but she went and was a harlot also . 9 "Because of the lightness of her harlotry , she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees . 10 "Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart , but rather e in deception ," declares the Lord . 11 And the Lord said to me, " Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah .

12 "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say , ' Return , faithless Israel ,' declares the Lord ; ' I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious ,' declares the Lord ; 'I will not be angry forever . 13 'Only acknowledge your iniquity , That you have transgressed against the Lord your God And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree , And you have not obeyed My voice ,' declares the Lord . 14 'Return , O faithless sons ,' declares the Lord ; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family , And I will bring you to Zion .' 15 "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart , who will feed you on knowledge and understanding . 16 "It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land ," declares the Lord , "they will no longer say , 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord .' And it will not come to mind , nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again . 17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord ,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem , for the name of the Lord ; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart . 18 " In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel , and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance . 19 "Then I said , 'How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land , The most beautiful inheritance of the nations !' And I said , 'You shall call Me, My Father , And not turn away from following Me.'

20 "Surely , as a woman treacherously departs from her lover , So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel ," declares the Lord . 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights , The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel ; Because they have perverted their way , They have forgotten the Lord their God . 22 "Return , O faithless sons , I will heal your faithlessness ." "Behold , we come to You; For You are the Lord our God . 23 "Surely , the hills are a deception , A tumult on the mountains . Surely in the Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel . 24 "But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth , their flocks and their herds , their sons and their daughters . 25 "Let us lie down in our shame , and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God , we and our fathers , from our youth even to this day . And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God ."