- 15Thou, O Lord, knowest;
- Remember me, and think of me, and avenge me of my persecutors;
- Take me not away because of Thy long-suffering;
- Know that for Thy sake I have suffered taunts.
- 16Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
- And Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart;
- Because Thy name was called on me, O Lord God of hosts.
- 17I 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.
- 18Why is my pain perpetual,
- And my wound incurable, so that it refuseth to be healed?
- Wilt Thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook,
- As waters that fail?
- 19Therefore thus saith the Lord:
- If thou return, and I bring thee back,
- Thou shalt stand before Me;
- And if thou bring forth the precious out of the vile,
- Thou shalt be as My mouth;
- Let them return unto thee,
- But thou shalt not return unto them.
- 20And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen 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.
- 21And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked,
- And I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
16The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying:
- 2Thou shalt not take thee a wife,
- Neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them, and concerning their fathers that begot them in this land:
- 4They shall die of grievous deaths;
- They shall not be lamented,
- Neither shall they be buried,
- They shall be as dung upon the face of the ground;
- And they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine;
- And their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven,
- And for the beasts of the earth.
5For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, saith the Lord, even mercy and compassion. 6Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them; 7neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink. 9For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
- Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place,
- Before your eyes and in your days,
- The voice of mirth and the voice of gladness,
- The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
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