Jeremiah 15:2
Context
2“And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says 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 appoint over them four kinds 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 earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5“Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
         Or who will mourn for you,
         Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6“You who have forsaken Me,” declares the LORD,
         “You keep going backward.
         So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
         I am tired of relenting!

7“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
         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 more numerous before Me
         Than the sand of the seas;
         I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
         A destroyer at noonday;
         I will suddenly bring down on her
         Anguish and dismay.

9“She who bore seven sons pines away;
         Her breathing is labored.
         Her sun has set while it was yet day;
         She has been shamed and humiliated.
         So I will give over their survivors to the sword
         Before their enemies,” declares the LORD.

10Woe 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 everyone curses me.

11The LORD said, “Surely I will set you free for purposes of good;
         Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you
         In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

12“Can anyone smash iron,
         Iron from the north, or bronze?

13“Your wealth and your treasures
         I will give for booty without cost,
         Even for all your sins
         And within all your borders.

14“Then I will cause your enemies to bring it
         Into a land you do not know;
         For a fire has been kindled in My anger,
         It will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

15You who know, O LORD,
         Remember me, take notice of me,
         And take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
         Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
         Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.

16Your words were found and I ate them,
         And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
         For I have been called by Your name,
         O LORD God of hosts.

17I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers,
         Nor did I exult.
         Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone,
         For You filled me with indignation.

18Why has my pain been perpetual
         And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
         Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
         With water that is unreliable?

19Therefore, thus says the LORD,
         “If you return, then I will restore you—
         Before Me you will stand;
         And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
         You will become My spokesman.
         They for their part may turn to you,
         But as for you, you must not turn to them.

20“Then I will make you to this people
         A fortified wall of bronze;
         And though they fight against you,
         They will not prevail over you;
         For I am with you to save you
         And deliver you,” declares the LORD.

21“So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
         And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”



NASB ©1995

Parallel Verses
American Standard Version
And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Jehovah: 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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? thou shalt say to them: Thus saith 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.

Darby Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Jehovah: 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.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass, if they say to 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 the captivity, to the captivity.

World English Bible
It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: 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.

Young's Literal Translation
And it hath come to pass, when they say to thee, Whither do we go out? that thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah: Those who are for death -- to death, And those who are for the sword, to the sword, And those who are for famine, to famine, And those who are for captivity, to captivity.
Library
The Northern Iron and the Steel
That being the literal meaning, we shall draw from our text a general principle. It is a proverbial expression, no doubt, and applicable to many other matters besides that of the prophet and the Jews; it is clearly meant to show, that in order to achieve a purpose, there must be a sufficient force. The weaker cannot overcome the stronger. In a general clash the firmest will win. There must be sufficient firmness in the instrument or the work cannot be done. You cannot cut granite with a pen-knife,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Hidden Manna
He was eminently the man that had seen affliction, and yet in the midst of a wilderness of woe he discovered fountains of joy. Like that Blessed One, who was "the man of sorrows" and the acquaintance of grief, he sometimes rejoiced in spirit and blessed the name of the Lord. It will be both interesting and profitable to note the root of the joy which grew up in Jeremiah's heart, like a lone palm tree in the desert. Here was its substance. It was an intense delight to him to have been chosen to the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Ten Reasons Demonstrating the Commandment of the Sabbath to be Moral.
1. Because all the reasons of this commandment are moral and perpetual; and God has bound us to the obedience of this commandment with more forcible reasons than to any of the rest--First, because he foresaw that irreligious men would either more carelessly neglect, or more boldly break this commandment than any other; secondly, because that in the practice of this commandment the keeping of all the other consists; which makes God so often complain that all his worship is neglected or overthrown,
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Sins of Communities Noted and Punished.
"Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." This is predicated of the judgments of God on those who had shed the blood of his saints. The Savior declares that all the righteous blood which had been shed on the earth from that of Abel down to the gospel day, should come on that generation! But is not this unreasonable and contrary to the Scriptures? "Far be wickedness from God and iniquity from the Almighty. For the work of man shall be render unto him, and cause every
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

General Notes by the American Editor
1. The whole subject of the Apocalypse is so treated, [2318] in the Speaker's Commentary, as to elucidate many questions suggested by the primitive commentators of this series, and to furnish the latest judgments of critics on the subject. It is so immense a matter, however, as to render annotations on patristic specialties impossible in a work like this. Every reader must feel how apposite is the sententious saying of Augustine: "Apocalypsis Joannis tot sacramenta quot verba." 2. The seven spirits,
Victorinus—Commentary on the Apocolypse of the Blessed John

How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Word
The third way to escape the wrath and curse of God, and obtain the benefit of redemption by Christ, is the diligent use of ordinances, in particular, the word, sacraments, and prayer.' I begin with the best of these ordinances. The word . . . which effectually worketh in you that believe.' 1 Thess 2:13. What is meant by the word's working effectually? The word of God is said to work effectually when it has the good effect upon us for which it was appointed by God; when it works powerful illumination
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Jeremiah
Among those who had hoped for a permanent spiritual revival as the result of the reformation under Josiah was Jeremiah, called of God to the prophetic office while still a youth, in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. A member of the Levitical priesthood, Jeremiah had been trained from childhood for holy service. In those happy years of preparation he little realized that he had been ordained from birth to be "a prophet unto the nations;" and when the divine call came, he was overwhelmed with
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists.
The object of this chapter is to present a rudimentary outline and summary of all that Augustin penned or spoke against those traditional North African Christians whom he was pleased to regard as schismatics. It will be arranged, so far as may be, in chronological order, following the dates suggested by the Benedictine edition. The necessary brevity precludes anything but a very meagre treatment of so considerable a theme. The writer takes no responsibility for the ecclesiological tenets of the
St. Augustine—writings in connection with the donatist controversy.

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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