Jeremiah 16

1 And the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 Thou shall not take to thee a wife, —Neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place.

“You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.”

3 For, Thus, saith Yahweh, Concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are being born in this place, —and concerning their mothers who do bear them, and concerning their fathers who do beget them, in this land,

For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and the mothers who bore them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land:

4 Of deaths from diseases, shall they die, They shall not be lamented, Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground, shall they serve, —Yea by sword and by famine, shall they be consumed, And, their dead bodies shall become, food—To the bird of the heavens, and To the beast of the earth.

“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”

5 For, Thus, saith Yahweh—Do not thou enter into the house of crying, Neither do thou go to lament, nor do thou bemoan for them, —For I have withdrawn my blessing from this people, Declareth Yahweh, Both lovingkindness and compassion.

Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.

6 So shall great and small die in this land, They shall not be buried, —Neither shall men lament for them Nor cut themselves, Nor make themselves bald for them;

“Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

7 Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead, —Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over one’s father Or over one’s mother;

No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.

8 And the house of banqueting, shall thou not enter To sit with them, To eat and to drink.

You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink.

9 For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! causing 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,

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.

10 And it shall be when thou shalt declare to this people, all these words, —and they shall say unto thee—For what reason, hath Yahweh pronounced against us all this great calamity? Or what is our iniquity, or what our sin, which we have sinned against Yahweh our God?

When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

11 Then shalt thou say unto them, —For that your fathers forsook, me, Declareth Yahweh, And walked after other gods, and served them, and bowed down to them, —Whereas me, they forsook And my law, kept they not;

Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.

12 And, ye, have done more wickedly than your fathers, —for look at you! walking every man after the stubbornness of his wicked heart, so as not to hearken unto me,

And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.

13 Therefore will I hurl you forth, from off this land, unto a land which ye have not known, ye, nor your fathers, —and ye can serve there other gods day and night, in that I will grant you no favour.

So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

14 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall be said no more By the life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but—

Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’

15 By the life of Yahweh, who hath brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither he had driven them, —So will I bring them back upon their own soil, which I gave to their fathers.

Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers.

16 Behold me! sending for many fishers Declareth Yahweh, And they shall catch them, —and thereafter will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from off every mountain and from off every hill, and out of the clefts of the crags.

But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

17 For mine own eyes are upon all their ways, they have not been hid from my face—neither hath their iniquity been concealed from being straight before mine eyes.

For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

18 Thus will I recompense, first, twofold, their iniquity and their sin, because of their profaning my land, —with the carcase of their disgusting and detestable things, have they filled mine inheritance.

And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my refuge, and my place to fly to, in the day of distress, —Unto thee, shall nations come in, out of the ends of the earth, that they may say—Surely! Falsehood, did our fathers inherit, Vanity, among whom is none that can profit:

O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.

20 Shall a son of earth, make for himself gods, Seeing that, they, are no-gods?

Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”

21 Therefore behold me! causing them to know, by this stroke, I will cause them to know my hand and my might, —That they may know that my name, is Yahweh!

“Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.