Jeremiah 15

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

Then Yahweh said [this] to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel could [come back from their graves and] and stand in front of me [and plead with me for these Israeli people], I would not act mercifully [IDM] toward these people. [I would tell you], ‘Send them away from me. Cause them to leave me!’

2 And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith 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 captivity, to captivity.

And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’, tell them, ‘This is what Yahweh says: The ones that I say must die, will die: The ones that I say must die in wars [MTY], will die in wars. The ones that I say must die from hunger, will die from hunger. The ones that I say must be captured [and taken to other countries], will be captured [and taken to other countries].

3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith 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 to destroy.

I will send four things that will get rid of them: I will send [enemy soldiers using] swords to kill them. I will send wild dogs to drag away [their corpses]. I will send vultures to eat [their corpses]. And I will send [other] wild animals to eat what remains [of their corpses].

4 And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

Because of [the wicked things that] King Manasseh did in Jerusalem, I will cause [people in] all the kingdoms of the earth to be horrified about [what will happen in Judah to] my people.

5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?

You [people of], no one will [RHQ] feel sorry for you. No one will [RHQ] weep/cry for you. No one will [RHQ] ask (how you are/if you are well).

6 Thou hast rejected me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore have I stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I am weary with repenting.

You people have abandoned me; you have continued to walk away [from me] [DOU]. So, I will lift up my fist to smash you; I will not act mercifully toward you any longer.

7 And I have fanned them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved [them] of children, I have destroyed my people; they have not returned from their ways.

At the gates of your cities, I will [scatter you like a farmer scatters the chaff from his grain by] (winnowing it/throwing it up to allow the wind to blow the chaff away) [MET]. You, my people, have refused to turn away from your evil behavior. [So], I will get rid of you, and I will even cause your children to be killed.

8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.

I will cause there to be more widows [in Judah] than [there are grains of] sand on the seashore [HYP]. At noontime, [when people will not be expecting it to happen], I will cause [an enemy army] to attack you, an army that will destroy your young men and cause their mothers to weep. I will cause you to suddenly experience great suffering/pain and become very terrified.

9 She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

A woman who has seven children will become faint and (gasp for breath/be hardly able to breathe); [it will be as though] daylight will become darkness for her, [because most of] her children will be dead, and she will be disgraced and humiliated [DOU]. And her children who are still alive, I will enable your enemies to kill them. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.’”

10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent on usury, neither have men lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.

[I said to] my mother, “I am very sad; I wish that you had not given birth to me; everyone in this land opposes me and quarrels with me. I am not a person who lends [money to people and threatens to sue/harm them if they do not pay me back when they should], and I am not a person who borrows [money from others and then refuses to pay it back], but everyone [HYP] curses me.”

11 The LORD said, Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

But Yahweh replied to me, “[Jeremiah], I will take care of you. And at times when your enemies have troubles and disasters, they will [come to you and] plead for you [to help them].”

12 Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?

[Yahweh also told me to say to the people] of Judah, “Your enemies, who are [as strong as] iron or bronze, [will attack you] from the north; no one will be able to stop them.

13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

I will give all the valuable possessions [of the people of Judah] to their enemies, without them paying for it. Their valuable possessions will be the payment/reward [that I will give them] because of all the sins that you have committed throughout your country.

14 And I will make [them] to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

I will tell your enemies to force you to become their prisoners, and to take you to other lands that you do not [even] know about, and force you to become their slaves. [That will happen] because I am extremely angry [with you]; my being angry is [like] [SIM] a fire that will burn forever.”

15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

[Then I said], “Yahweh, you know [what is happening to me]. [Please] come and (help me/take care of me). Punish those who are (persecuting me/causing me to suffer). [Please] do not continue to be patient with them and do not allow me to die now. It is (for your sake/because I serve you) that I am suffering.

16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

Yahweh my God, you are the Commander of the armies of angels; and when you spoke to me, I was delighted with your message; it caused me to be joyful, and I eagerly accepted [MET] what you said because I belong to you. [IDM, MTY]

17 I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced: I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.

When the people were carousing together, I never joined them; I sat alone, because you [MTY] are the one who controls what I do. I was very angry [with those people because of their sins].

18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?

So, (why do you [allow] me to continue to suffer?/I do not understand why you allow me to continue to suffer.) [RHQ] It seems that [RHQ] my wounds cannot be healed. [Sometimes you help me, sometimes you do not help me]. It seems that you are as undependable as a brook that has water in it only during certain seasons; you are like a spring that has dried up.”

19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, that thou mayest stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.

Then Yahweh [replied], “If you begin again to [trust in] me, I will restore you, in order that you can continue to serve me. If you proclaim good/valuable messages and not worthless ones, you will continue to be the one who speaks what I tell you to say. You must cause the people to pay attention to what you say; you must not pay attention to what they say.

20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

They will fight against you, but I will protect you, like [SIM] people are protected from their enemies by a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, because I will be with you, and I will protect and rescue [DOU] you.

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

[Truly], I will keep you safe from those wicked people, I will rescue you when you are seized by cruel people. [That will happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”