5For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall mourn for you? Or who shall stop to ask how you do? 6You have forsaken Me, says the LORD, you continue to backslide; therefore, will I stretch My hand out to destroy you; I am tired of holding back. 7And I will sort them out in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My own people, since they refuse to mend their ways. 8 I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas; at noonday I will bring a destroyer upon the mother of the young men; I will have him strike the city with sudden terrors. 9The mother of seven will faint and die; her sun will set while it is yet day; she has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver their survivors to the sword of their enemies, says the LORD.

10Woe is me, my mother, that you have given me birth - a man whom the whole earth strives and contends with! I have neither lent on interest, nor borrowed; yet everyone hates me. 11The LORD said, “Truly I shall care for you, Jeremiah, and I will cause your enemies to ask you to plead for them in their times of trouble and affliction. 12Can a man break a bar of iron or bronze from the north? 13I will give your (Israel’s) wealth and treasures, throughout all your borders, as plunder without charge, because of all your (Israel’s) sins. 14And I will make you accompany your enemies into a land you do not know; for My anger blazes like a fire, which shall burn upon you. 15O LORD, You know; remember and care for me (Jeremiah), and avenge me of my persecutors; in Your longsuffering (patient compassion), do not take me away. Remember how I have suffered for Your sake. 16When Your words came, I devoured them; and Your word was joy and rejoicing to my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. 17I never sat with the mockers and revelers; I sat alone because Your hand was upon me; and You have filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound grievous, and refuses to be healed? Will You be like a liar to me, and like a brook whose waters fail?

19Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, I will restore you so that you can serve Me; and if you speak true, and not false, words, you shall be My spokesman; let the people return to you; but do not return to them. 20And I will make you a defensive bronze wall against the people; and though they shall fight against you, they shall not prevail; for I am with you to rescue and save you, says the LORD. 21And I will protect you from the wicked, and I will rescue you from the grasp of the terrible.