Jeremiah 16
1 And the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
Yahweh gave me another message. [He said to me],
2 Thou shall not take to thee a wife, —Neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place.
“Do not get married and have children in this land,
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,
because this is what [I], Yahweh, say about the children who are born in this city, and about their mothers and fathers:
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.
[Many of] them will die from terrible diseases. And no one will mourn for them. No one will even bury their corpses; the corpses will lie on the ground, [scattered] like manure. [Others] will die in wars or from hunger, and [then] their corpses will become food for vultures and wild animals.”
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not thou enter into the house of crying, Neither do thou go to lament, nor do thou bemoan for them, —For I have withdrawn my blessing from this people, Declareth Yahweh, Both lovingkindness and compassion.
This is [also] what Yahweh said to me: “Do not go to funerals to mourn or to show [those whose relatives have died] that you feel sorry for them, because I have stopped protecting them, and I have caused that things will not go well for them. I have stopped faithfully loving them and acting mercifully toward them.
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;
[Very many people] will die in this land, [including] those who are important and those who are not important. And no one will mourn for them, or [even] bury [their corpses]. No one will cut himself or shave his head [to show that he is very sad].
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 one will bring food to comfort those who are mourning, not even if it is their father or their mother [who has died]. No one will give them a cup [of wine] to cheer them up.
8 And the house of banqueting, shall thou not enter To sit with them, To eat and to drink.
And do not go into the houses where people are feasting. Do not eat or drink anything with them.
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,
[I want you to do this] because this is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, say: ‘While you are still alive and seeing it happen, I will cause there to be no more singing and laughing in this land. There will be no more joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides.’
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 things to the people, they will ask, ‘Why has Yahweh declared that these terrible things will happen to us? What have we done [for which we deserve to be punished like this]? What sin have we committed against Yahweh 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 this is what you must tell them [that I am replying to them]: ‘It is because your ancestors turned away from me, Yahweh. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my commands.
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,
But you [who are living now] have done more wicked things than your ancestors did! Each of you stubbornly does the evil things that he desires and refuses to pay attention to what I say.
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 throw you out of this land, and I will send you to a land that you and your ancestors have never known about. There you will worship other gods day and night. And I will not act mercifully toward you.’
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—
But there will be a time when people [who are solemnly promising to do something] will no longer say, ‘[I will do this], [just as surely] as Yahweh lives—the one who brought the Israeli people here from 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 ‘[I will do this, just as surely] as Yahweh lives—the one who brought [us] Israeli people back to our own land, from the lands to the north and from all the other lands to which he had (exiled us/forced us to go).’ [They will be able to say that] because [some day] I will bring your descendants back to this land that I gave to your ancestors.
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 now I am summoning [your enemies who will seize the people of Judah like] [MET] fishermen [catch fish]. I am summoning those who will search for them on every mountain and hill, and in every cave, [like] [MET] hunters [search for animals to kill].
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.
I am watching them carefully. I see every sin [that they commit]. They will not [be able to] hide from me [MTY].
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.
Because of all the wicked things that they have done [DOU], I will punish them twice as much [as I would punish other people. I will do that] because they have caused my land to become unacceptable to me because of their [worshiping] lifeless statues of detestable gods, and [also because they] have done many other evil things throughout my land.”
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:
[Then I prayed, saying], “Yahweh, you are the one who strengthens me and protects me [MET]; you are the one to whom I go when I have [troubles]. [Some day people from] nations all over the world will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors left/gave us only something that was false; [they worshiped idols] that are completely worthless [DOU].
20 Shall a son of earth, make for himself gods, Seeing that, they, are no-gods?
No one can [RHQ] make their own gods; the gods that they make are [only idols]; they are not real 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!
[Then Yahweh said], “Now I will show my power to [the people of Judah]; I will show them that I am truly very powerful [DOU]. Then, finally, they will know that I, Yahweh, [am the true God].”
