Jeremiah 16

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

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

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

“Do not take a wife for yourself, and do not have sons or daughters for yourself 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 Yahweh says this to the sons and daughters who are born in this place, to the mothers who bear them, and to the fathers who caused them to be born 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 will die diseased deaths. They will not be mourned or buried. They will be like dung on the ground. For they will come to an end by sword and famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the skies and the beasts 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 the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'Do not enter a house where there is mourning. Do not go to mourn or to show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people—this is Yahweh's declaration—and my steadfast love and mercy.

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;

Both the great and the small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and no one will mourn for them or cut themselves or shave their heads 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.

No one must share any food in mourning to comfort them because of the deaths, and none must give a comforting cup to his father or his mother in order to comfort them.

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

You must not go to a banquet house to sit with them in order to eat or 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 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, 'See, before your eyes, in your days and in this place, I am about to put an end to the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the sound of the groom and the sound of the 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?

Then it will happen that you will report all these words to this people, and they will say to you, 'Why has Yahweh decreed all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity and sin that we sinned against Yahweh our God?'

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;

So say to them, 'Because your ancestors abandoned me—this is Yahweh's declaration—and they went after other gods and worshiped and bowed down to them. They abandoned me and have 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;

But you yourselves have brought about more wickedness than your ancestors, for see, each person is walking by the stubbornness of his wicked heart; there is no one who listens 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.

So I will throw you from this land to a land that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, and you will worship other gods there by day and night, for I will not give any favor 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, the days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when it will no longer be said, 'As Yahweh lives, the one who brought up the people of Israel from 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, 'As Yahweh lives, the one who brought up the people of Israel from the land of the north and from the lands where he had scattered them.' For I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.

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 will send for many fishermen—this is Yahweh's declaration—so they will fish the people out. After this I will send for many hunters so they will hunt for them among all the mountains and hills, and in rock crevices.

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 eye is on all their ways; they cannot be hidden from before me. Their iniquity cannot be 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.

I will first pay back double for their iniquity and sin for their polluting of my land with their disgusting idol figures, and for their filling my inheritance with their disgusting idols.”

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.

Yahweh, you are my stronghold and my refuge, my place of safety in the day of distress. The nations will go to you from the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our ancestors inherited deceit. They are empty; there is no profit in them.

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

Do people make gods for themselves? But they are not 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 see! I will cause them to know in this time, I will cause them to know my hand and my power, so they will know that Yahweh is my name.