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’s Life a Warning. 1This word came to me from the Lord: 2Do not take a wife and do not have sons and daughters in this place, 3for thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, the mothers who give them birth, the fathers who beget them in this land: 4Of deadly disease they shall die. Unlamented and unburied they will lie like dung on the ground. Sword and famine will make an end of them, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.#Jer 7:33; 22:18.
5Thus says the Lord: Do not go into a house of mourning; do not go there to lament or grieve for them. For I have withdrawn my peace from this people—oracle of the Lord—my love and my compassion.#Ez 24:16–17. 6They shall die, the great and the lowly, in this land, unburied and unlamented.#These verses refer to popular mourning practices in the land; cf. Dt 14:1–2. No one will gash themselves or shave their heads for them.#Lv 19:28; Dt 14:1. 7They will not break bread with the bereaved to offer consolation for the dead; they will not give them the cup of consolation to drink over the death of father or mother.#Ez 24:17.
8Do not enter a house of feasting to sit eating and drinking with them. 9For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Before your eyes and in your lifetime, I will silence in this place the song of joy and the song of gladness, the song of the bridegroom and the song of the bride.#Jer 7:34; 25:10.
10When you proclaim all these words to this people and they ask you: “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our crime? What sin have we committed against the Lord, our God?”—#Jer 2:35; 5:19; 13:22. 11#Jer 22:9; Dt 29:25. you shall answer them: It is because your ancestors have forsaken me—oracle of the Lord—and followed other gods that they served and worshiped; but me they have forsaken, and my law they did not keep. 12And you have done worse than your ancestors. Here you are, every one of you, walking in the stubbornness of your evil heart instead of listening to me.#Jer 7:24–26. 13I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known; there you can serve other gods day and night because I will not show you mercy.
Return from Exile. 14Therefore, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt”;#Jer 23:7–8. 15but rather, “As the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them.” I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.#Jer 24:6.
Double Punishment. 16Look!—oracle of the Lord—I will send many fishermen to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and rocky crevice.#2 Kgs 24:2; Lam 4:19. 17For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor does their guilt escape my sight.#Jer 32:19; Jb 34:21. 18I will at once repay them double for their crime and their sin because they profaned my land with the corpses of their detestable idols, and filled my heritage with their abominations.#Is 40:2.
Conversion of the Nations
19Lord, my strength, my fortress,
my refuge in the day of distress!
To you nations will come
from the ends of the earth, and say,
“Our ancestors inherited mere frauds,
empty, worthless.”#Jer 2:11; Is 2:2–3.
20Can human beings make for themselves gods?
But these are not gods at all!#Jer 2:11; Gal 4:8.
21Therefore, I will indeed give them knowledge;
this time I will make them acknowledge
My strength and my power:
they shall know that my name is Lord.#Am 5:8.
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