Jeremiah 16

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

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

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

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

3 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:

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 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.”

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 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.

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 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.

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

7 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.

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

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

9 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.

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 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?

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 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,

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 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.

(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 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.

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 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,

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 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.

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 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.

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 have not been hidden from My face, Nor has their iniquity been concealed from before My eyes.

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

18 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.”

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 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.”

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

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

21 “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!”

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.