1
Then the LORDsaid to me, "Even thoughMoses and Samuel were to standbefore Me, My heart would not be with thispeople; send them away from My presence and let them go!
2
"And it shall be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you are to tell them, 'Thussays the LORD: "Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity."'
3
"I will appointover them fourkinds of doom," declares the LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4
"I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earthbecause of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
6
"You who have forsaken Me," declares the LORD, "You keep goingbackward. So I will stretch out My handagainst you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting!
7
"I will winnow them with a winnowingfork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.
8
"Their widows will be morenumerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a youngman, A destroyer at noonday; I will suddenlybringdown on her Anguish and dismay.
9
"She who boreseven sons pinesaway; Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was yetday; She has beenshamed and humiliated. So I will give over their survivors to the swordBefore their enemies," declares the LORD.
10
Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyonecurses me.
11
The LORDsaid, "Surely* I will set you free for purposes of good; Surely* I will cause the enemy to makesupplication to you In a time of disaster and a time of distress.