n with tears
night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my
people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. If I
go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I
enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! for
both the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no
knowledge.'

REPENTENT ISRAEL

Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast
thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace,
but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold dismay! We
acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers:
for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake;
do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy
covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the heathen that
can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD
our God? therefore we will wait upon thee; for thou hast made all these
things.

THE LORD (to the Prophet)

Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward
this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 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. And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the
sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and
the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy. And I will cause them
to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of
Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in
Jerusalem. For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall
bemoan thee? or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare? Thou hast
rejected me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore have I
stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I am weary with
repenting. And I have fanned them with a fan in the gates of the land; I
have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they have
not returned from their ways. Their widows are increased to me above the
sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the
young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused anguish a