cormacburke.me.ke

Chapter 15
1 And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before me, my soul is not towards this people: cast them out from my sight, and let them go forth.
2 And if they shall say unto you: Whither shall we go forth? you shall say to them: Thus said the Lord: Such as are for death, to death: and such as are to the sword, to the sword: and such as are for famine, to famine: and such as are to captivity, to captivity.
3 And I will visit them with four kinds, said the Lord: The sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
4 And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go to pray for your peace?
6 You have forsaken me, said the Lord, you are gone backward: and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will destroy you: I am weary of entreating you.
7 And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned form their ways.
8 Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities.
9 She that has borne seven is become weak, her soul has fainted away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day: she is confounded, and ashamed: and the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the sight of their enemies, said the Lord.
10 Woe is me, my mother: why have you borne me a man of strife, a man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither has any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.
11 The Lord said to me: Assuredly it shall be well with your remnant, assuredly I shall help you in the time of affliction, and in the time of tribulation against the enemy.
12 Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the brass?
13 your riches and your treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing, because of all your sins, even in all your borders.
14 And I will bring your enemies out of a land, which you know not: for a fire is kindled in my rage, it shall burn upon you.
15 O Lord, you know, remember me, and visit me, and defend me from them that persecute me, do not defend me in your patience: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.
16 your words were found, and I did eat them, and your word was to me a joy and gladness of my heart: for your name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts.
17 I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of the presence of your hand: I sat alone, because you have filled me with threats.
18 Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.
19 Therefore thus said the Lord: If you will be converted, I will convert you, and you shall stand before my face; and if you will separate the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall be turned to you, and you shall not be turned to them.
20 And I will make you to this people as a strong wall of brass: and they shall fight against you, and shall not prevail: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you, said the Lord.
21 And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the mighty.