Jeremiah 16

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

And you shall not take a wife, says the Lord God of Israel:

2 “You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.”

and there shall be no son born to you, nor daughter in this place.

3 For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and the mothers who bore them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land:

For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that have born them, and concerning their fathers that have begotten them in this land;

4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”

They shall die of grievous death; they shall not be lamented, nor buried; they shall be for an example on the face of the earth; and they shall be for the wild beasts of the land, and for the birds of the sky: they shall fall by the sword, and shall be consumed with famine.

5 Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.

Thus says the Lord, Enter not into their mourning feast, and go not to lament, and mourn not for them: for I have removed my peace from this people.

6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

They shall not bewail them, nor make cuttings for them, and they shall not shave themselves [for them]:

7 No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.

and there shall be no bread broken in mourning for them for consolation over the dead: they shall not give one to drink a cup for consolation over his father or his mother.

8 You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink.

You shall not enter into the banquet-house, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

9 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I [will] make to cease out of this place before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

10 When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

And it shall come to pass, when you shall report to this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Therefore has the Lord pronounced against us all these evils? what is our unrighteousness? and what is our sin which we have sinned before the Lord our God?

11 Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.

Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers forsook me, says the Lord, and went after strange gods and served them, and worshipped them, and forsook me, and kept not my law;

12 And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.

(and you sinned worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the lusts of your own evil heart, so as not to listen to me);

13 So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

therefore I will cast you off from this good land into a land which neither you nor your fathers have known; and you shall serve their other gods, who shall have no mercy upon you.

14 Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’

Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, The Lord lives, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

15 Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers.

but, The Lord lives, who brought up the house of Israel from the land of the north, and from all countries whither they were thrust out: and I will restore them to their own land, which I gave to their fathers.

16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

Behold, I [will] send many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain, and upon every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

17 For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

For mine eyes are upon all their ways; and their iniquities have not been hidden from mine eyes.

18 And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

And I will recompense their mischiefs doubly, and their sins, whereby they have profaned my land with the carcases of their abominations, and with their iniquities, whereby they have trespassed against mine inheritance.

19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.

O Lord, you are my strength, and mine help, and my refuge in days of evil: to you the Gentiles shall come from the end of the earth, and shall say, How vain [were the] idols [which] our fathers procured to themselves, and there is no help in them.

20 Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”

Will a man make gods for himself, whereas these are no gods?

21 “Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.

Therefore, behold, I will at this time manifest my hand to them, and will make known to them my power; and they shall know that my name is the Lord.