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15. Drought, Famine, Sword

¹ Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! ² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says:

“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’

³ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

    ⁵ “Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
   Who will mourn for you?
   Who will stop to ask how you are?
⁶ You have rejected me,” declares the LORD.
   “You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
   I am tired of holding back.
⁷ I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
   at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
   for they have not changed their ways.
⁸ I will make their widows more numerous
   than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
   against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
   anguish and terror.
⁹ The mother of seven will grow faint
   and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
   she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
   before their enemies,” declares the LORD.

    ¹⁰ Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
   a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
   yet everyone curses me.

¹¹ The LORD said,

   “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
   surely I will make your enemies plead with you
   in times of disaster and times of distress.

¹² “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north—or bronze?

    ¹³ “Your wealth and your treasures
   I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
   throughout your country.
¹⁴ I will enslave you to your enemies
   in Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
   that will burn against you.”

    ¹⁵ LORD, you understand;
   remember me and care for me.
   Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
   think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
¹⁶ When your words came, I ate them;
   they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
   LORD God Almighty.
¹⁷ I never sat in the company of revelers,
   never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
   and you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸ Why is my pain unending
   and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
   like a spring that fails.

¹⁹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “If you repent, I will restore you
   that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
   you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
   but you must not turn to them.
²⁰ I will make you a wall to this people,
   a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
   but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
   to rescue and save you,” declares the LORD.
²¹ “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
   and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

He proceeds with his narrative; he says, that fruitful women had been weakened, not as we see to be often the case, for by frequent child — bearing we know the strength of women is diminished; but here he speaks of the strength which mothers derive from their children; for a numerous offspring is the support of mothers. She then who has many children seems strong, as she is by so many shields defended. As then mothers were wont to place much dependence on their offspring, he says that they were weakened as to their strength when they were bereaved of all their children, as though they had been barren.

He afterwards adds, that the soul, the people, had expired; for he speaks not here of women, but of the whole people. For it afterwards follows, Set hath her sun while it was yet day; that is, when prosperity seemed certain, God suddenly involved them in adversity, and as it were surrounded them with darkness, when they thought that prosperous fortune was slhining on them. He at last says, that they were confounded and ashamed; and at the same time he declares, that he would give all who remained to the sword before their enemies; as though he had said, “They have not yet suffered all the punishment allotted to them, for they are not subdued, though I have heavily and severely chastised them; as then they are incurable, the sword shall destroy the remainder; for my vengeance shall not cease to pursue them, until I shall utterly consume them. ¹³⁷¹³⁷     The whole passage, including the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th verses (Jeremiah 15:7-9) presents difficulties as to the time intended. The verbs, from the middle of the 7^th to the last clause in verse the 9^th, are all in the past tense, and are so given in the Septuagint, Vulgate, and the Targum; but in the Syriac in the future tense. Our version is not uniform. It is better to give the tenses as they are, for the reference seems to be to God’s past judgments; and at the end of the 9^th verse, God speaks of what he would do, —
   7. And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved, I have destroyed my people; From their ways have they not turned:
   8. Increased to me have their (people) widows More than the sand of the sea; I brought on them, on the mother of they youth, A disaster at mid-day; I caused to come upon her suddenly Tumult and terrors:
   9. Languish did she who gave birth to seven, Pant for breath did her soul, Set did her sun during the day time, Ashamed has she been and confounded: And the remainder of them to the sword will I give, In the presence of their enemies, saith Jehova.
   As he speaks of bereavement, of widows, and of giving birth to seven, it seems evident, that “the mother of the youths,” or of young men. Whether mother is to be taken here metaphorically for Jerusalem, is another question; but I think otherwise. The loss of mothers as to their children is what is spoken of. And from having mentioned the case of mothers in their bereavement, the Prophet in the next verse refers to his own mother, and to his own unhappy condition, — Ed.