Jeremiah 16:10-18

“And when you prophesy all these words to that people, and they ask you, ‘Why has YAHWEH decreed all this great evil against us? What is the wrong and the sin that we have committed against YAHWEH our God?’ Answer them, ‘Because your ancestors walked away from me, declares YAHWEH, and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They abandoned me and failed to keep my instruction. Yet you have acted even worse than your ancestors. Each of you follow the stubborn desires of your evil hearts and refuse to listen to me. Therefore, I will fling you out of this land to a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you will serve other gods, day and night to your heart’s content, for I will have no pity for you.’ ” “Listen, a time is coming,” declares YAHWEH, “when it will no more be said, ‘As surely as YAHWEH lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘As surely as YAHWEH lives, who brought the Israelites back from the land of the north and from all the lands to which he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their homeland, which I gave to their ancestors. “Behold, I will summon many fishermen,” declares YAHWEH, “and they will fish them out. After that, I will summon many hunters, and they will hunt them out of every mountain and hill and chase them out of their hiding places in the rocks. For I see everything they do. They are not hidden from my presence, nor does their guilt escape my gaze. First, I will pay them back in full— even double for their evil and their sins. They have defiled my land and made it unfit for me because of their dead, detestable idols and have filled the land I have chosen for my own with their abominations.”