- 7Though our iniquities testify against us,
- O Lord, work Thou for Thy name's sake;
- For our backslidings are many,
- We have sinned against Thee.
- 8O Thou hope of Israel,
- The Saviour thereof in time of trouble,
- Why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land,
- And as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
- 9Why shouldest thou be as a man overcome,
- As a mighty man that cannot save?
- Yet Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us,
- And Thy name is called upon us;
- Leave us not.
10Thus saith the Lord unto this people:
- Even so have they loved to wander,
- They have not refrained their feet;
- Therefore the Lord doth not accept them,
- Now will He remember their iniquity,
- And punish their sins.
11And the Lord said unto me: 'Pray not for this people for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.' 13Then said I: 'Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them: Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.' 14Then the Lord said unto me: 'The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I unto them; they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart. 15Therefore thus saith the Lord: As for the prophets that prophesy in My name, and I sent them not, yet they say: Sword and famine shall not be in this land, by sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed; 16and the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their evil upon them.'
17And thou shalt say this word unto them:
- Let mine eyes run down 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 blow.
- 18If 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 are gone about to a land, and knew it not.
- 19Hast 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 terror!
- 20We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness,
- Even the iniquity of our fathers;
- For we have sinned against Thee.
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