Chapter 15 of Yirmiyahu opens with Hashem's response to the prophet's prayer at the end of the previous chapter: there is no longer any room for prayer. From here onward, the chapter proceeds to detail the orders of impending catastrophe, their cause, and the personal anguish of the prophet sent to deliver this harsh message concerning his city and his people. Let us follow the order of the pesukim.
"Though Moshe and Shemuel Stood Before Me"
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלַי אִם־יַעֲמֹד מֹשֶׁה וּשְׁמוּאֵל לְפָנַי אֵין נַפְשִׁי אֶל־הָעָם הַזֶּה שַׁלַּח מֵעַל־פָּנַי וְיֵצֵאוּ׃ - And Hashem said to me: Though Moshe and Shemuel stood before Me, My soul would not turn toward this people; send them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to the prophet: Even Moshe and Shemuel would be of no avail now. Why specifically these two? Rashi explains that both of them pleaded for mercy on Israel's behalf and succeeded, but first they brought the people back to the right path. It did not cross their minds to turn aside Hashem's wrath until they had reformed the people. In other words, their success stemmed from sowing upon fertile ground: first repentance, and then prayer. Here, however, Yirmiyahu is praying for a people that has not repented, and under such conditions, even Moshe and Shemuel would not have succeeded.
With Moshe, this is explicit: first, "Put every man his sword upon his thigh," he ground the calf to dust and scattered it over the water, and executed the transgressors who had worshiped the calf, and only then, "I will go up to Hashem; perhaps I will achieve atonement." Atonement came at the end of a complete process of repentance. Likewise with Shemuel at Mitzpah: first, "And the children of Israel put away the Baalim," and only then, "Gather all Israel to Mitzpah, and I will pray for you." Yirmiyahu cannot turn them back to Hashem, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: Do not stand and pray for them, for My soul - that is, My will - has no desire for this people.
Radak explains differently: Even Moshe and Shemuel, who were greater than you, would be of no avail. And why were specifically these two mentioned? Because both were Levites and prophets, and the greatest of the prophets after Moshe Rabbeinu was Shemuel: "Moshe and Aharon among His priests, and Shemuel among those who call upon His name," and of him it is said, "Shemuel was established as a prophet of Hashem," and He let none of his words fall to the ground. According to Radak, this is not a question of the order of repentance and prayer, but rather of their immense stature. Even if you were to bring the two greatest figures in Israel, even they would not overturn the decree now. Therefore, "send them out of My sight, and let them go forth" - the command is directed to Yirmiyahu: it is better that you dismiss them than stand and pray on their behalf.
The Malbim explains that here Yirmiyahu was answered that the verdict had already been sealed, and once the verdict is sealed, prayer no longer avails. Moshe and Shemuel indeed had the power to stand in the breach, but that was when My soul and My favor were still toward them - that is, before the sealing of the decree. Even though there was a countenance of fury, and even though "His anger flared," this was merely outward - while inward there was still goodwill. But now My soul is alienated from them, and therefore "send them out of My sight, and let them go forth" - into exile, like a rebellious son whom his father banishes from his home.
"Whither Shall We Go Forth?" - Four Kinds of Retribution
וְהָיָה כִּי־יֹאמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ אָנָה נֵצֵא וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר לַמָּוֶת לַמָּוֶת וַאֲשֶׁר לַחֶרֶב לַחֶרֶב וַאֲשֶׁר לָרָעָב לָרָעָב וַאֲשֶׁר לַשְּׁבִי לַשֶּׁבִי׃ - And it shall come to pass, if they say to you, "Whither shall we go forth?" then you shall tell them: Thus says Hashem: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for famine, to famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
If they ask you where we shall go forth, tell them of the decrees destined to befall them. Rashi explains: Each calamity listed later in the verse is harsher than the one before it. The sword is harsher than death (pestilence), for death by the sword is disfiguring - it involves humiliation to the body, as one killed by the sword is pierced and bleeding, whereas one who dies on his bed leaves an intact body, as it says, "Precious in the eyes of Hashem is the death of His pious ones." Famine is harsher than the sword, for one suffers prolonged torment while the other does not: by the sword one is killed in an instant, but in famine one suffers for many days, as it says, "Better were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine." And captivity is the harshest of all, of which Rashi says, "all of them are contained within it" - in captivity there is the sword, there is famine, there is affliction; everything is encompassed within it.
The Malbim categorizes these evils by their nature: there is natural evil - death and famine; there is evil born of free will, where an agent of choice decides to strike - the sword and captivity; and there are evils brought about by sentient creatures possessing basic volition, namely dogs and beasts, as it is written, "wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat... and the teeth of beasts." And all these evils emanate from Hashem - this is the "going forth" toward which they go. They are four judgments, each more severe than the preceding one, in the sense of the verse, "He who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit" - as the afflictions grow progressively harsher.
וּפָקַדְתִּי עֲלֵיהֶם אַרְבַּע מִשְׁפָּחוֹת נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה אֶת־הַחֶרֶב לַהֲרֹג וְאֶת־הַכְּלָבִים לִסְחֹב וְאֶת־עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־בֶּהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ לֶאֱכֹל וּלְהַשְׁחִית׃ - And I will appoint over them four kinds, says Hashem: the sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, and the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy.
"And I will appoint" (ופקדתי) - Rashi explains this in the sense of appointment and delegation, like appointing someone to a post. "Four families" are four types of punishments. The sword - to kill, which is its nature. The dogs - to drag away, as it is the way of dogs to drag a carcass outward. And the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth - and here the verse is structured in parallel clauses: the birds of the heavens to devour, and the beasts of the earth to destroy. The bird of prey, like an eagle, vulture, or falcon, preys upon and eats flesh. Whereas the beast of the earth - a domesticated animal - does not eat meat, but rather tramples and destroys.
Because of Menashe - And Why, After He Repented?
וּנְתַתִּים לְזַעֲוָה לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ בִּגְלַל מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן־יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה עַל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - And I will make them an object of shuddering to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Menashe the son of Chizkiyahu, king of Yehudah, for what he did in Yerushalayim.
"Za'avah" (horror or shuddering) is related to movement and trembling, as in "he did not rise nor shake (זע)," and through letter transposition za'avah and zeva'ah share the same meaning, just as we find with kahal and lahak, or keves and kesev. The meaning is: they will have no rest, but will constantly wander and tremble among all the kingdoms of the earth. And all this because of Menashe the son of Chizkiyahu, who led Yehudah in wicked ways and spilled innocent blood until he filled Yerushalayim with blood from end to end.
A difficulty arises here: Menashe repented, so why is he still mentioned disparagingly? Therefore, the Radak cites Targum Yonatan: "Because they did not repent like Menashe the son of Chizkiyah" - meaning, because you did not repent as Menashe the son of Chizkiyahu did. However, according to the plain meaning of the text, this is difficult, for the simple sense of the verse is that Menashe committed atrocities in Yerushalayim, and because of this Hashem brings these troubles; Targum Yonatan departs from the literal meaning of the verse, offering an interpretation in the manner of Derash.
The Malbim addresses this difficulty elsewhere, in Sefer Melachim, and explains that Menashe committed two grave sins: idolatry and bloodshed. When he repented, he repented for one of them but not the other, and therefore the Holy One, Blessed be He, still held it against him; this is why Sefer Melachim also states that the exile came on account of the sins of Menashe the son of Chizkiyahu. Another explanation: at that time, the decree had already been sealed, and even though he subsequently repented, the decree had already been finalized. A further explanation: his repentance was purely personal and did not bring about the repentance of the entire nation - in the sense of "and I have saved my own soul" - but the general state of the nation did not change for the better. For all these reasons, Menashe was the one on whose account the calamity came.
Who Will Pity You, Yerushalayim?
כִּי מִי־יַחְמֹל עָלַיִךְ יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וּמִי יָנוּד לָךְ וּמִי יָסוּר לִשְׁאֹל לְשָׁלֹם לָךְ׃ - For who will have pity on you, Yerushalayim, and who will console you, and who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
"Yanud" - Rashi interprets this as to lament; the Radak explains it as "to console and comfort him." The Metzudat David explains simply: when a person comes to be with a friend in his grief, he shakes his head from side to side in sorrow - and this is "yanud lach." The Radak adds another reason for this term: the comforters move (nadim) from their places, some from here and some from there, to console the mourner, as we find in Iyov where his companions came to him from afar.
And since you brought all these troubles upon yourself, who will now come to share in your sorrow? We have already discussed that people do not tend to pity someone who, after numerous warnings, went ahead and harmed himself with his own hands. In the worst case, there is even a kind of schadenfreude, "it serves him right," and at the very least we feel no compassion for him, since he acted foolishly. So too here: you were warned, the prophets spoke with you early and late, but you said, "After me, the deluge" - and now, when the flood has caught you in its midst, who will have pity?
The Malbim notes with precision: "Who will pity" - who will refrain from destroying you; do you really think Nevuchadnezzar will come and show mercy, sparing you? "And who will console you" - these are the close friends and relatives who come to console a mourner. Not only will they not come, but even "who will turn aside to ask about your welfare" - those more distant acquaintances who come after the days of mourning to see how you are doing and what you need - even they will not come.
I Have Grown Weary of Relenting
אַתְּ נָטַשְׁתְּ אֹתִי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה אָחוֹר תֵּלֵכִי וָאַט אֶת־יָדִי עָלַיִךְ וָאַשְׁחִיתֵךְ נִלְאֵיתִי הִנָּחֵם׃ - "You have forsaken Me, says the Lord, you constantly draw backward; so I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you; I have grown weary of relenting."
You yourself brought this misfortune upon yourself by abandoning Me. Not only that, but you continued to pull further away - "you go backward" constantly. There is abandonment, and there is retreating even further into the distance. Therefore, "I have stretched out My hand against you" - I extended My hand against you time after time to destroy you. And even though in the end Israel was not utterly destroyed and always endured, because I always relented from the disaster - now, "I am weary of relenting," as it were, I have grown tired of reconsidering. This time, the matter is about to end in a harsh exile, for time and time again I relented, until I can no longer relent, and retribution must be exacted from them as they deserve.
I Will Winnow Them with a Winnowing Fan
וָאֶזְרֵם בְּמִזְרֶה בְּשַׁעֲרֵי הָאָרֶץ שִׁכַּלְתִּי אִבַּדְתִּי אֶת־עַמִּי מִדַּרְכֵיהֶם לוֹא־שָׁבוּ׃ - "And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved, I have destroyed My people; yet they did not turn back from their ways."
Radak explains: Just as grain is winnowed with a winnowing fan, so will I scatter them throughout the world. "In the gates of the land" means in the cities of the land, as Targum Yonatan translates: "in the cities of the land." The reason a city is referred to by its gate is that people entered and exited through the gate, as the verse states, "to all who entered the gate of his city." The verse is referring back to the Ten Tribes who were exiled; therefore it states, "I have bereaved, I have destroyed" - as if He was bereaved of them and as though they were completely lost, to the point where there is a dispute whether they are destined to return in the future. Yet despite all this, the tribe of Yehudah saw these calamities and did not turn back from its evil way - they should have drawn conclusions from what had happened to their brethren, yet they did not.
The Malbim explains the apparent duplication: "And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan" - that they went into exile; "I have bereaved" - referring to their young children; "I have destroyed" - referring to the adults. Come and see calamity after calamity, and see that they still did not change their ways! And what is a mizreh (winnowing fan)? A tool with which grain was scattered after threshing, as in the phrase "winnowed with shovel and fan." One tosses the grain into the air: the heavy grain falls back in its place, while the wind carries away the chaff and the light husks. Here the Malbim is precise in his wording: "The refuse went into exile." This does not mean, Heaven forbid, the derogatory sense of how the term might be used today, but rather relative to the rest of the Jewish people - Yehudah was still relatively upright compared to Shomron, and it was those more corrupted who went into exile first. Just like with an actual winnowing fan, where the wind carries off the inferior parts, so too in the first exile the worst elements were cast off - and Yehudah should have drawn the necessary conclusions, but they did not.
Their Widows Outnumbered the Sand of the Seas
עָצְמוּ־לִי אַלְמְנוֹתָו מֵחוֹל יַמִּים הֵבֵאתִי לָהֶם עַל־אֵם בָּחוּר שֹׁדֵד בַּצׇּהֳרָיִם הִפַּלְתִּי עָלֶיהָ פִּתְאֹם עִיר וּבֶהָלוֹת׃ - "Their widows have outnumbered the sand of the seas before Me; I brought upon them, against the mother of the youth, a spoiler at noonday; I cast upon her suddenly an enemy and terrors."
In this verse there are several words that require explanation, and as is often the case when obscure words appear in the Prophets, the interpretations are as varied as the commentators. Rashi explains: Its widows have become more numerous before Me than the sand of the seas. Radak adds that this refers not only to quantity but also to gravity: I grieve over them, and its widows are numerous and significant in My eyes - "atzmu" stems from power, greatness, and abundance. Radak explains that this occurred in the days of Achaz, when Pekach ben Remalyahu slaughtered one hundred and twenty thousand men of Yehudah in a single day, and it is easy to imagine how many widows were left behind after such a massacre. Metzudat David adds: Do not think that I act out of vengeance or that this matter is trivial in My eyes - know that I do this only to refine them, and the pain and sorrow of every widow is revealed before Me and causes Me grief.
"Against the mother of the youth" - Radak explains "em" as referring to a community or congregation (ummah), meaning a community of young men. They did not come like thieves in the night, but at midday, and the youth's strength was of no avail to save them. "A spoiler" here is not a mere thief, but an enemy coming to exact retribution, and "at noonday" emphasizes that he did not come in the dead of night out of fear, but openly and boldly. "I cast upon her suddenly an ir and terrors" - "ir", according to Radak, refers to the destruction of cities, related to "Raze it, raze it [aru aru] to its foundation," or that the city collapsed and was destroyed. And "terrors" teaches that everything happened abruptly, without preparation and without anticipation, as in the phrase "and they hurried [vayabhilu] to bring Haman." Radak also cites in his father's name, as Rashi also explains, that "ir" means an enemy or adversary, as was said regarding Shaul, "and became your enemy [eirecha]" - meaning: I suddenly brought upon her enemies and terrors.
The Malbim explains this allegorically: The widows who remained were countless and more numerous than the sand of the seas, and upon each mother He brought a young man from the nations to violate her - a despoiler who committed outrages against her and plundered her. In this way, the verse continues to speak of those women left widowed - that I brought upon them the enemy who would inflict this upon them, and this took place at midday, in plain view of all, and with shocking suddenness. And "ir", according to the Malbim, is neither an actual city nor an enemy, but is related to nakedness (ervah): I suddenly brought upon her exposure of nakedness and terrors, referring to that despoiling youth who uncovered her nakedness.
She Who Bore Seven Has Languished
אֻמְלְלָה יֹלֶדֶת הַשִּׁבְעָה נָפְחָה נַפְשָׁהּ בָּא שִׁמְשָׁהּ בְּעֹד יוֹמָם בּוֹשָׁה וְחָפֵרָה וּשְׁאֵרִיתָם לַחֶרֶב אֶתֵּן לִפְנֵי אֹיְבֵיהֶם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - She who bore seven languishes; she breathed out her soul; her sun set while it was yet day; she is ashamed and disgraced. And their remnant I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Hashem.
This is an expression familiar to all of us from the Kinnot of Tishah B'Av. Rashi explains that this refers to Shomron, to the Ten Tribes, and it is called "she who bore seven" after the seven royal houses that were exiled from there: Yarov'am ben Nevat and his house, Ba'asha and his house, Omri and his house, Yehu and his house, Menachem and his house, Pekach and his house, and Hoshea ben Elah and his house.
"She breathed out her soul" (nafchah nafshah) - we usually understand this as referring to death, but that is not necessarily so. Targum implies that it denotes deep sorrow of soul, akin to the expression mapach nefesh, meaning profound heartbreak. "Her sun set while it was yet day" - they did not expect the downfall to come so quickly and that they would be exiled among the nations; prematurely, their fall was sudden. Just as the Gemara in Masechet Gittin describes, at one end of the city there was rejoicing, singing, and musical instruments, while at the other end there was already slaughter, massacre, and dreadful horrors. "Her sun set" means her sun went down, and normally sunset occurs toward evening - but here the verse comes to teach that the sunset was untimely, in the middle of the day, while they were at the peak of their strength, and in a single moment everything collapsed.
Midrash Tanchuma, however, applies the verse not to Shomron but to Yerushalayim, counting seven wicked kings who ruled over it: Yehoram, Yo'ash, Achaz, Menasheh, Amon, Yehoyakim, and Tzidkiyahu. Yet Rashi notes that Rechav'am, Aviyah, Amatzyahu, and Achazyahu should also be counted, so the number seven would not be exact here.
The Radak, on the other hand, does not look for an exact tally at all. In his view, "seven" is an expression denoting multiplicity, for when one wants to indicate a large quantity without an exact calculation, one says "seven." "A righteous person falls seven times and rises" - is it specifically seven, and not six or eight? Rather, it means many times. Similarly, "sevenfold for your sins" and "he shall pay sevenfold" do not mean an exact number. So too, "until the barren woman has borne seven" means that she bore many, whereas in reality Channah gave birth to five, and it was Chazal who calculated why she is described as having borne seven. Along these lines, Rabbi Margolios also cites that the numbers three hundred and four hundred in the language of Chazal often serve to express a multitude: "They brought up to him in the attic three hundred jars of wine," and King David had "four hundred children born of women captured in war," among many other places proving that the intention is not a precise number, but a large quantity.
According to this: "She who bore seven" - she who bore many children; "breathed out her soul" - she experienced deep grief; "her sun set while it was yet day" - her sun set while the day was still high; "she is ashamed and disgraced" - she suffered humiliation. "And their remnant I will deliver to the sword" - the remnant, those who were not taken into exile, will be handed over to the sword; and "their remnant" (she'eritam) refers to their children, as in the phrase "to give you a name and a remnant."
"Woe is Me, My Mother" - The Prophet's Lament
אוֹי־לִי אִמִּי כִּי יְלִדְתִּנִי אִישׁ רִיב וְאִישׁ מָדוֹן לְכׇל־הָאָרֶץ לֹא־נָשִׁיתִי וְלֹא־נָשׁוּ־בִי כֻּלֹּה מְקַלְלַוְנִי׃ - Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land! I have neither lent on interest, nor have they lent to me, yet everyone curses me.
The prophet says: They have no reason to quarrel with me. "I have not lent" (lo nashiti) - related to the term for a creditor (nosheh); I did not lend to them and demand repayment of my loan, such that they would curse me over the demand. "Nor have they lent to me" - nor did they lend to me, such that they would demand repayment from me and I failed to pay, cursing me on that account. Quite simply, there is no pretext for them to curse me.
A story illustrates this well. A person once asked his friend for a loan, and the friend, knowing the kind of person he was, realized this would not be a loan but an outright gift. The friend said to him: "First, curse me." The man asked: "Why would I curse you? Aren't you my friend?" He insisted: "No, curse me." So he cursed him. The friend said: "That is not enough; curse me more." He cursed him even more. The man then asked: "Well, now will you give me the loan?" The friend replied: "After such curses, do you think I will give you a loan? Listen, I know that if I lend you the money, when I come to ask for it back - not only will I never see the money, but you will also curse me. I would rather you curse me while the money is still in my pocket, which is bearable, than have you curse me when the money is already in your pocket - that would be intolerable."
Why bring this up? Because this is precisely the wording of the verse: "I have not lent" - meaning, I did not demand repayment of a loan from them, provoking them to curse me for it. A person comes to ask for his money, and not only does the borrower not return it, but he even curses the lender: "Why are you nagging me? When I have it, I'll call you." And the lender has already been waiting for years! The borrower can even quote the halachah: "Do not be like a creditor to him." See how this has existed from time immemorial: a person asks for the return of the loan he gave, and the ingrate even curses him.
It follows, then, according to Rashi and the Radak, that these people had no reason at all to hate the prophet. If so, their entire hatred stemmed solely from his rebuke - even though the rebuke was entirely for their own good, to bring them back in teshuvah and prevent them from going into exile.
There is also a perplexing expression here: "kullah mekalaluni" ("all of them curse me"), whereas it should have said "mekalleni" (in the singular, matching kullah). Radak explains that this is a compound word derived from two roots: k-l-l (curse) and k-l-h (disgrace). A curse is the opposite of a blessing, and shame (kalon) is the opposite of honor - meaning that he did not emerge with honor, but with disgrace. These are two distinct verbs, and the prophet sought to combine both of them into a single word, with the letter hei of kalah replaced by a vav, as Radak illustrates with additional examples. Thus, this is a dual expression encompassing both curse and disgrace.
The Malbim explains that this verse continues the figurative imagery above. According to the parable, over each and every mother - over all those widows - a young warrior came to violate her; and according to the analogue, this refers to a metropolis and a mother-city in Israel, to Jerusalem. The prophet is prophesying about the mother who bore him, about the city that is, metaphorically, his mother, the city in which he was born. And he laments: Why did you bear me, only that I should prophesy calamity against you? What a terrible fate you brought me into the world for! The Midrash offers a parable for this: A woman suspected of infidelity was brought before the Kohen to drink the bitter waters of a sotah, and as he uncovers her hair, he is shocked to see that she is his own mother. So it is here: My mother Jerusalem bore me, and now I must speak harsh words against you, that you are destined to be destroyed. What terrible sorrow it is, that you are my city, yet I must prophesy grim prophecies about you.
And since the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, "And their remnant I will deliver to the sword," and the curse encompasses everyone, even his mother, he laments having been born to see toil, sorrow, strife, and dispute. Until now, he still had hope that he might bring them to repentance and anticipated good; but now, when Hashem refuses to accept his prayer and even commands him not to pray on their behalf, hope is gone. Everything he did until now in the expectation that at any moment the people would repent, the exile would cease, and the exiles would return - it all turned out to be an illusion, and his hope was shattered. Therefore he says: Woe is me that I am a man of strife and a man of contention.
What is the difference in Lashon HaKodesh between riv (strife) and madon (contention)? The Malbim explains: Riv is groundless, simply looking for a fight; madon relates to a legal dispute, a din vedvarim, where one has a legitimate claim and reason to argue, related to the words diyon (deliberation) and din (law). According to this, the continuation of the verse is precise: Corresponding to "a man of strife" (ish riv), he says, "I have not lent on usury" - I have not lent money to others; for a borrower quarrels with the lender because the lender demands his money back, and this strife is baseless - why quarrel with me, when I lent you money? And corresponding to "a man of contention" (ish madon), he says, "nor have men lent on usury to me" - I have not borrowed from them and refused to repay; for had that been the case, they would have had a legitimate legal claim against me to demand that the money be paid, which is madon and not mere riv. Yet despite all this - "kullah mekalaluni": all of them curse me, both in the sense of a curse and in the sense of disgrace, and entirely without justification.
In summary:
In this chapter, the Holy One, blessed be He, locks the gates of prayer: the decree has been sealed, and even Moshe and Shemuel - whether because they prioritized repentance before prayer or due to the greatness of their stature - would no longer be of avail. From this point forward, the prophet details the escalating stages of retribution: death, sword, famine, and captivity, and the four families of sword, dogs, birds of heaven, and beasts of the earth; and he attributes the decree to the sins of Menasheh, according to the various explanations regarding his repentance. Jerusalem will find no one to console her or inquire after her welfare, because she herself abandoned Hashem and continued to slide backward, and Hashem declared, "I am weary of relenting." The exile of the Ten Tribes should have served as a lesson for Yehudah - yet they did not repent. The chapter concludes with the prophet's personal lament: he is made a man of strife and a man of contention without any cause, cursed and disgraced through no fault of his own, when all his rebuke was intended solely for their benefit - and this is the anguish of an emissary sent to prophesy calamity against his city and his mother.