"Yet evenin thosedays,"declaresthe LORD,"I will not makeyou a completedestruction.
For I am with you,' declaresthe LORD,'to saveyou; For I will destroycompletelyallthe nationswhereI have scatteredyou, OnlyI will not destroyyou completely.But I will chastenyou justlyAnd will by nomeansleaveyou unpunished.'
For thussaysthe LORD,"The wholelandshall be a desolation,Yet I will not executea completedestruction.
"Goup through her vinerowsand destroy,But do not executea completedestruction;Stripawayher branches,For they are not the LORD'S.
"They will devouryour harvestand your food;They will devouryour sonsand your daughters;They will devouryour flocksand your herds;They will devouryour vinesand your figtrees;They will demolishwith the swordyour fortifiedcitiesin whichyou trust.
"It shall comeabout whenthey say,'Whyhas the LORDour Goddoneallthesethingsto us?' then you shall sayto them, 'As you have forsakenMe and servedforeigngodsin your land,soyou will servestrangersin a landthat is not yours.'
Now it cameabout as I prophesied,that Pelatiahsonof Benaiahdied.Then I fellon my faceand criedout with a loudvoiceand said,"Alas,LordGOD!Will You bringthe remnantof Israelto a completeend?"
"Yet My eyesparedthem ratherthandestroyingthem, and I did not causetheir annihilationin the wilderness.
As they were striking[the people] and I [alone] was left,I fellon my faceand criedout saying,"Alas,LordGOD!Are You destroyingthe wholeremnantof Israelby pouringout Your wrathon Jerusalem?"
Are You not from everlasting,O LORD,my God,my HolyOne?We will not die.You, O LORD,have appointedthem to judge;And You, O Rock,have establishedthem to correct.
