Jeremiah 16

1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

2 Thou shalt not take thyself a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

“You do not take a wife to yourself, Nor do you have sons and daughters in this place.”

3 For thus hath said the Lord 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 said YHWH, Of the sons and of the daughters who are born in this place, And of their mothers—those bearing them, And of their fathers—those begetting them in this land:

4 A death through diseases of famine shall they die; they shall not be lamented for; nor shall they be buried; for dung upon the face of the earth shall they be: and by the sword and by famine shall they come to their end; and their carcasses shall be for food unto the fowls of heaven, and unto the beasts of the earth.

“They die painful deaths, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For they are dung on the face of the ground, And are consumed by sword and by famine, And their carcass has been for food To the bird of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth.”

5 For thus hath said the Lord, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor to condole with them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, yea, kindness and mercy.

For thus said YHWH: “Do not enter the house of a mourning-feast, Nor go to lament nor bemoan for them, For I have removed My peace from this people,” A declaration of YHWH, “The kindness and the mercies.

6 And both the great and the small shall die in this land, — they shall not be buried, and men shall not lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;

And great and small have died in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor does any cut himself, nor become bald for them.

7 Nor shall they break bread for them at their mourning, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall they give them to drink the cup of consolation for their father and for their mother.

Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother.

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

You do not enter a house of banqueting, To sit with them, to eat and to drink,”

9 For thus hath said the Lord 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 gladness, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

For thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: “Behold, I am causing to cease from this place, Before your eyes, and in your days, The voice of joy, and the voice of rejoicing, The voice of bridegroom and voice of bride.

10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they should say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord spoken against us all this great evil? and what is our iniquity? and what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?

And it has come to pass, When you declare all these words to this people, And they have said to you, Why has YHWH spoken all this great evil against us? Indeed, what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin, That we have sinned against our God YHWH?

11 That thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord, and walked after other gods, and served them, and bowed down unto them, and me they forsook, and my law they kept not;

Then you have said to them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, A declaration of YHWH, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And have forsaken Me, and not kept My law,

12 And ye act worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so as not to hearken unto me;

You also have done evil above your fathers, And behold, you are each walking after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to listen to Me.

13 Therefore will I hurl you out of this land into the land of which ye had no knowledge, neither ye nor your fathers; and ye will serve there other gods by day and by night; so that I will not grant you any favor.

And I have cast you from off this land, On to a land that you have not known, You and your fathers, And you have served other gods there by day and by night, Where I do not give grace to you.

14 Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when it shall not he said any more, As the Lord liveth, who hath brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

Therefore, behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And it is not said anymore, YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,

15 But, As the Lord liveth, who hath brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them: and I will cause them to return unto their land which I have given unto their fathers.

But, YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of the north, And out of all the lands to where He drove them, And I have brought them back to their land, That I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold, I will send for many fishermen, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after that will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Behold, I am sending for many fishers,” A declaration of YHWH, “And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks.

17 For my eyes are directed upon all their ways, they are not hidden from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

For My eyes [are] on all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor has their iniquity been concealed from before My eyes.

18 And [thus] will I pay them at the first their two-fold iniquity and their sin; because they have defiled my land, filling my heritage with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.

And I have repaid a first—A second time—their iniquity and their sin, Because of their defiling My land, With the carcass of their detestable things, Indeed, their abominations have filled My inheritance.”

19 O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge on the day of trouble, unto thee shall nations come from the ends of the earth, and say, Nothing but falsehood had our fathers inherited, vanity, wherein there is no profit.

O YHWH, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Nations come to You from the ends of the earth, And say, “Our fathers only inherited falsehood, Vanity, and none among them is profitable.”

20 How? can a man make unto himself gods, which are yet no gods?

Does man make gods for himself, And they—no gods?

21 Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, at this time will I cause them to know, my hand and my might: and they shall know that my name is The Eternal.

“Therefore, behold, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My Name [is] YHWH!”