Jeremiah 16

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

The word of Jehovah came to me, saying:

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

Take thee not a wife; Have no sons or daughters 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 saith Jehovah concerning the sons and the daughters That are born in this place, And concerning their mothers that bore them, And concerning their fathers that begat 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.”

By deadly diseases shall they die; They shall not be lamented nor buried; They shall become dung upon the face of the earth; By the sword also and by famine shall they be consumed, And their carcasses shall be food for the birds of heaven And the beasts of the earth.

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.

For thus saith Jehovah: Enter not into the house of wailing; Go not to lament; Comfort them not! For I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, My kindness and mercy.

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.

The great and the small in this land shall die; They shall not be buried nor lamented; No one shall cut himself for them, Nor shall any one make himself bald 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.

Men shall not break bread for them in their grief, To comfort them for the dead, Nor give them the cup of consolation to drink, On account of a lost father or mother.

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

Neither enter thou into the house of feasting, To sit down 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 saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to cause to cease from this place, Before your eyes, in your days, The voice of joy and the voice of mirth, 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 when thou shalt have declared to this people all these things, and they shall say to thee, “Why hath Jehovah pronounced against us all this great evil? What is our iniquity, and what our sin, which we have committed against Jehovah 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 shalt thou say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, And have walked after strange gods, And have served them and worshipped them, And have forsaken me, and not kept 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 ye yourselves have done worse than your fathers; For, behold, ye walk every one after the perverseness of his evil heart, And do not hearken 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 will I cast you forth from this land Into a land unknown to you and to your fathers; And there shall ye serve strange gods day and night; For I will show you no favor.

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,

Yet behold the days shall come, saith Jehovah, When men shall no more say, “As Jehovah liveth Who brought up the children of Israel from 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, “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 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, saith Jehovah, who shall fish them, And then will I send many hunters who shall hunt them From every mountain, and from every hill, and from 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; They are not concealed from my view, Nor is their iniquity 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 requite their former and their repeated iniquities and sins, Because they have polluted my land with carcasses offered to their idols, And filled my inheritance with their abominable things.

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 Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of distress! To thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, And shall say, “Truly our fathers inherited delusion, Vain and unprofitable things.

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

Shall one make for himself gods Which 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 this time cause them to feel, I will cause them to feel my hand and my might, And they shall know that my name is Jehovah.