Jeremiah 15:1-4
When a people persistently reject God’s warnings, judgment eventually arrives with unstoppable certainty.
1 Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
2 It will happen, when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.” ’
3 “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
4 I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
When a people persistently reject God’s warnings, judgment eventually arrives with unstoppable certainty.
To declare that Judah’s persistent rebellion has reached the point where even the intercession of the greatest covenant mediators would not avert the coming judgment.
This passage follows the lament and confession of Jeremiah 14 and marks a transition from intercession to the firm declaration of unavoidable judgment.
Jeremiah ministered during the final decades of Judah before the Babylonian exile, a time marked by widespread idolatry and moral corruption.
Even Moses and Samuel Could Not Turn This Judgment Away
Judah's judgment has become unavertable, yet the LORD preserves his prophet by calling him to repent, speak precious words, refuse accommodation, and stand as a fortified wall amid opposition.