Jeremiah 16

1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, and thou shalt not have sons nor daughters in this place.

“You shall not take a wife, and there shall be no sons or daughters for you in this place.

3 For thus saith Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning their fathers that beget them in this land:

For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are conceived in this place, and concerning their mothers who give birth to them, and concerning their fathers, from whose stock they have been born in this land:

4 They shall die of painful deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground, and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine, and their carcases shall be food for the fowl of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.

They will die from grievous mortal illnesses. They will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be like manure on the face of the earth. And they will be consumed by sword and by famine. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the land.”

5 For thus saith Jehovah: Enter not into the house of wailing, neither go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, the loving-kindness and the tender mercies.

For thus says the Lord: “You shall not enter the house of feasting, and you shall not go to mourn or to console them. For I have taken away from this people, says the Lord, my peace, my mercy, and my pity.

6 Both great and small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried; and none shall lament for them, or cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.

Both the great and the small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not be mourned. And no one will cut themselves or make themselves bald on their behalf.

7 Nor shall they break [bread] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall they give them the cup of consolations to drink for their father or for their mother.

And they will not break bread among themselves for the sake of him who mourns, so as to console him over the dead. And they will not give them a chalice to drink, so as to console them over their father and mother.

8 And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, to eat and to drink.

And so, you shall not enter the house of feasting, so as to sit with them, and to eat and drink.”

9 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will take away from this place, in your sight and in your days, the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt declare unto this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? and what is our iniquity? and what is our sin which we have committed against Jehovah our God?

And when you announce all these words to this people, they will say to you: ‘Why would the Lord pronounce all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity and what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

11 then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

And you shall say to them: It is because your fathers abandoned me, says the Lord. And they went after strange gods, and they served them and adored them. And they abandoned me, and they did not keep my law.

12 and you, ye have done still worse than your fathers; and there ye are walking every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, not to hearken unto me:

But you have acted even worse than your fathers. For behold, each one walks after the depravity of his own evil heart, so that he does not listen to me.

13 and I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land that ye know not, ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night: because I will shew you no favour.

And so, I will cast you out of this land, into a land that you do not know, and that your fathers did not know. And in that place, you will serve, day and night, strange gods who will not give you rest.

14 Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, [As] Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

Therefore, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who led the sons of Israel away from the land of Egypt,’

15 but, [As] Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them. For I will bring them again into their land, which I gave unto their fathers.

but instead, ‘As the Lord lives, who led the sons of Israel away from the land of the north,’ and from all the lands to which I have cast them out. And I will lead them back into their own land, which I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them, from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Behold, I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will fish for them. And after this, I will send many hunters to them, and they will hunt for them on every mountain, and on every hilltop, and in the caverns of the rocks.

17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not concealed from my face, neither is their iniquity hidden from before mine eyes.

For my eyes are upon all their ways. They have not been hidden from my face, and their iniquity has not been concealed from my eyes.

18 But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have profaned my land with the carcases of their detestable things, and with their abominations have they filled mine inheritance.

But first, I will repay their double iniquities and their sins. For they have defiled my land with the dead bodies of their idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

19 Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of distress, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and they shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited falsehood [and] vanity; and in these things there is no profit.

“O Lord, my strength, and my health, and my refuge in the day of tribulation: the Gentiles will approach you from the ends of the earth, and they will say: ‘Truly, our fathers possessed a lie, an emptiness that has not benefited them.’

20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no-gods?

How can man make gods for himself, though these are not gods?”

21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.

“Concerning this, behold: I will make it clear to them, in this turn. I will reveal to them my hand and my virtue. And they will know that the Lord is my name.”