I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Master: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the vultures and wild animals to finish up what’s left.
Because of the wicked things Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will punish you so severely that your fate will horrify the peoples of the world.
Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?
You have forsaken Me and turned your backs upon Me. Therefore, I will clench my fists against you to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
I will sift you at the gates of your cities and take from you all that you hold dear, and I will destroy my own people because they refuse to turn back to Me from all their evil ways.
There shall be countless widows; at noontime I will bring death to the young men and sorrow to their mothers. I will cause anguish and terror to fall upon them suddenly.
The mother of seven sickens and faints, for all her sons are dead. Her sun is gone down while it is yet day. She sits childless now, disgraced, for all her children have been killed.
Then Jeremiah said, “What sadness is mine, my mother; oh, that I had died at birth. For I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a creditor soon to foreclose nor a debtor refusing to pay—yet they all curse me.
Well, let them curse! Master, you know how I have pled with you on their behalf—how I have begged you to spare these enemies of mine.”
Can a man break bars of northern iron or bronze? This people’s stubborn will can’t be broken either. So, because of all your sins against Me, I will deliver your wealth and treasures as loot to the enemy.
