Jeremiah 16
16
No Marriage for Jeremiah
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: 4They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. # Jr 8:2; 9:22; 25:33 They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land. # Dt 28:26; Is 18:6; Jr 7:33
5“For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. # Lit house of mourning Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “as well as My faithful love and compassion. # Ps 25:6; 40:11; 69:16 6Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or # Dt 14:1 shave his head for them. # This custom demonstrated pagan mourning rituals. 7Food won’t be provided for the mourner # Dt 26:14; Ezk 24:17; Hs 9:4 to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won’t be given him because of the loss of his father or mother. 8You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink. 9For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride. # Jr 7:34; 25:10; 33:11
Abandoning the Lord and His Law
10“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? # Jr 5:19 What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? ’ 11Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me” # Dt 29:25; Jr 1:16; 2:13,17,19; 5:19; 17:13; 22:9 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. # Dt 29:26 Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction. 12You did more evil than your fathers. # Jr 7:26 Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me. 13So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. # Jr 15:14; 17:4; 22:26 There you will worship other gods # Dt 4:28; 28:36,64 both day and night, for I will not grant you grace. # Or compassion
14“However, take note! The days are coming” # Jr 7:32; 19:6; 23:5; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — the Lord’s declaration — “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ # Jr 23:7-8 15but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north # Jr 3:18 and from all the other lands where He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors. # Jr 23:8
Punishment of Exile
16“I am about to send for many fishermen” # Am 4:2; Hab 1:14-15 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, 17for My gaze takes in all their ways. # Jr 32:19; 2Ch 16:9; Jb 34:21; Ps 90:8; Pr 5:21 They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight. 18I will first repay them double for their guilt # Jr 17:18 and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.”
19Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress, # Ps 37:39; Nah 1:7
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our fathers inherited only lies,
worthless idols # Jr 8:19; 10:8,15; 14:22 of no benefit at all.”
20Can one make gods for himself?
But they are not gods. # Gn 1:26; Jr 2:11
21“Therefore, I am about to inform them,
and this time I will make them know
My power and My might;
then they will know that My name is Yahweh.” # Jr 33:2
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Jeremiah 16: HCSB
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Jeremiah 16
16
The Day of Disaster
1Then the Lord spoke his word to me: 2“You must not get married. You must not have sons or daughters in this place.”
3The Lord says this about the sons and daughters born in this land. And he says this about the mothers and fathers of those children: 4“They will die of terrible diseases. No one will cry for them. No one will bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. They will die in war, or they will starve to death. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky. And they will be food for the wild animals.”
5So this is what the Lord says: “Jeremiah, do not go into a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go there to cry for the dead or to show your sorrow. Do not do this because I have taken back my blessing, my love and my pity from these people,” says the Lord. 6“Important people and common people will die in the land of Judah. No one will bury them or cry for them. No one will cut himself for them. And no one will shave his head to show sorrow for them. 7No one will bring food to the people who are crying for the dead. No one will comfort one whose mother or father has died. No one will offer a drink to comfort them.
8“Do not go into a house where the people are having a feast. Do not go there and sit down to eat and drink. 9This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: I will soon stop the sounds of joy and gladness in this place! I will stop the happy sounds of brides and bridegrooms! This will happen during your lifetime.
10“You will tell the people of Judah these things. And they will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’
11“Then say to them: ‘This is because your ancestors quit following me,’ says the Lord. ‘And they began to follow other gods. They served and worshiped other gods. Your ancestors left me. And they quit obeying my teaching. 12But you have done even more evil than your ancestors. You are very stubborn. You do only what you want to do. You have not obeyed me. 13So I will throw you out of this country. You will go to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve false gods day and night. I will not help you or show you any favors.’
14“People say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt . . .’ But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not say this anymore. 15They will say instead, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites from the northern land and from all the countries where he had sent them . . .’ And I will bring them back to the land I gave to their ancestors.
16“I will soon send for many fishermen to come to this land,” says the Lord. “The fishermen will catch the people of Judah. After that, I will send for many hunters to come to this land. Those hunters will hunt the people of Judah on every mountain and hill. And they will hunt Judah in the cracks of the rocks. 17I see everything they do. They cannot hide the things they do from me. Their sin is not hidden from my eyes! 18I will pay back the people of Judah for the evil they have done. I will punish them two times for every one of their sins. I will do this because they have made my land unclean. They have done it with their hated idols. They have filled my country with them!”
19Lord, you are my strength and my protection.
You are a safe place for me to run to in times of trouble.
The nations will come to you from all over the world.
They will say, “Our fathers had only false gods.
They worshiped useless idols that didn’t help them.
20Can people make gods for themselves?
They will not really be gods!”
21The Lord says, “So I will teach those who make idols.
Right now I will teach them
about my power and my strength.
Then they will know
that my name is the Lord.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.