Jeremiah 15:2–9

2 And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

t“ ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,

and those who are for the sword, to the sword;

those who are for famine, to famine,

and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

3 uI will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and vthe birds of the air wand the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 xAnd I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what yManasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

5  z“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,

zor who will grieve for you?

Who will turn aside

to ask about your welfare?

6  aYou have rejected me, declares the Lord;

byou keep going backward,

so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—

cI am weary of relenting.

7  dI have winnowed them with ea winnowing fork

in the gates of the land;

I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;

fthey did not turn from their ways.

8  I have made their widows more in number

than gthe sand of the seas;

I have brought against the mothers of young men

a destroyer at noonday;

I have made anguish and terror

fall upon them suddenly.

9  hShe who bore seven has grown feeble;

ishe has fainted away;

jher sun went down while it was yet day;

she has been shamed and disgraced.

And the rest of them I will give to the sword

before their enemies,

declares the Lord.”