Jeremiah 16
16
Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry
1The Lord gave me another message. He said, 2“Do not get married or have children in this place. 3For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: 4They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”
Judah’s Coming Punishment
5This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. 6Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness. 7No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
8“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all. 9For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.
10“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’
11“Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. 12And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me. 13So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’
Hope despite the Disaster
14“But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ 15Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.
16“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the Lord. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves. 17I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. 18I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer of Confidence
19 Lord, you are my strength and fortress,
my refuge in the day of trouble!
Nations from around the world
will come to you and say,
“Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage,
for they worshiped worthless idols.
20Can people make their own gods?
These are not real gods at all!”
21The Lord says,
“Now I will show them my power;
now I will show them my might.
At last they will know and understand
that I am the Lord.
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Jeremiah 16: NLT
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Jeremiah 16
16
Jeremiah 16
1¶ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3For thus hath the Lord said concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that would be born in this place and concerning their mothers that would bare them and concerning their fathers that would beget them in this land
4They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their carcasses shall be food for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
5For thus hath the Lord said, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor comfort them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, said the Lord, even mercy and compassion.
6Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
7neither shall they break the bread of mourning for them, to comfort themselves for their death; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8In the same manner thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9For thus hath the Lord of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Behold, I will cause to cease in this place before your eyes and in your days, every voice of mirth and every voice of gladness, every voice of the bridegroom, and every voice of the bride.
10¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these things, they shall say unto thee, Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin which we have committed against the Lord our God?
11Then thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law;
12and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk each one after the imagination of his evil heart, not hearkening unto me:
13Therefore I will cause you to be cast out of this land into a land that ye do not know, neither ye nor your fathers; and there ye shall serve other gods day and night; for I will not grant you mercy.
14¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the Lord, that it shall no longer be said, The Lord lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of Egypt;
15but, The Lord lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of the north wind, and from all the lands where he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16Behold, I send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after, will I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17For my eyes are upon all their ways, which they have not hid from me, neither does their iniquity hide from the presence of my eyes.
18But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their abominations, and they have filled my inheritance with abominable things.
19O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the time of the affliction; Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.
20Shall a man make gods unto himself? But they shall not be gods.
21Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know this time; I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International