The Coming Exile (JER 10:17-25)

[10:17] People of Jerusalem, you are under siege! Gather up your belongings.

[10:18] The Lord is going to throw you out of this land; he is going to crush you until not one of you is left. The Lord has spoken.

[10:19] The people of Jerusalem cried out, “How badly we are hurt! Our wounds will not heal. And we thought this was something we could endure!

[10:20] Our tents are ruined; the ropes that held them have broken. Our children have all gone away; there is no one left to put up our tents again; there is no one to hang their curtains.”

[10:21] I answered, “Our leaders are stupid; they do not ask the Lord for guidance. This is why they have failed, and our people have been scattered.

[10:22] Listen! News has come! There is a great commotion in a nation to the north; its army will turn the cities of Judah into a desert, a place where jackals live.”

[10:23] Lord, I know that none of us are in charge of our own destiny; none of us have control over our own life.

[10:24] Correct your people, Lord, but do not be too hard on us or punish us when you are angry; that would be the end of us.

[10:25] Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you and on the people who reject you. They have killed your people; they have destroyed us completely and left our country in ruins.

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