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The Coming Exile

¹⁷ Gather up your bundle from the ground,
   O you who live under siege!
¹⁸ For thus says the Lord:
I am going to fling away the inhabitants of the land
   at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
   so that they shall feel it.

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my hurt!
   My wound is severe.
But I said, ‘Truly this is my punishment,
   and I must bear it.’
²⁰ My tent is destroyed,
   and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
   and they are no more;
there is no one to spread my tent again,
   and to set up my curtains.
²¹ For the shepherds are stupid,
   and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
   and all their flock is scattered.

²² Hear, a noise! Listen, it is coming—
   a great commotion from the land of the north
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
   a lair of jackals.

²³ I know, O Lord, that the way of human beings is not in their control,
   that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.
²⁴ Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;
   not in your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.