Yirmeyah 16-18

Orthodox Jewish Bible

16 The Davar Hashem came also unto me, saying,

² Thou shalt not take thee an isha, neither shalt thou have banim or banot in makom hazeh (this place).

³ For thus saith Hashem concerning the banim and concerning the banot that are born in makom hazeh, and concerning their immahot (mothers) that bore them, and concerning their avot that fathered them in ha’aretz hazot (this land);

⁴ The mot (death) they die will be of deadly diseases; they shall not be mourned; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as refuse upon the face of ha’adamah; and they shall be consumed by the cherev, and by ra’av (famine); and their nevelot (dead bodies) shall be food for the oph haShomayim, and for the behemat ha’aretz.

⁵ For thus saith Hashem, Enter not into the bais marzeach (house of mourning), neither go to lament nor mourn them; for I have withdrawn away My shalom from HaAm Hazeh, saith Hashem, even chesed and rachamim.

⁶ Both the gedolim and the ketanim shall die in ha’aretz hazot; they shall not be buried, neither shall men mourn for them, nor make [pagan] cuttings on themselves, nor make themselves [like pagan mourners] bald for them [See Dt 14:1]:

⁷ Neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the kos tanechumim (cup of consolation) to drink for their av or for their em.

⁸ Thou shalt not go into the bais mishteh (house of feasting), to sit with them to eat and to drink.

⁹ For thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of hamakom hazeh before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of sasson, and the voice of simcha, the voice of the choson, and the voice of the kallah.

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these Devarim, and they shall say unto thee, Why hath Hashem pronounced all this ra’ah hagedolah against us? Or what is avonenu (our iniquity)? Or what is chattatenu (our sin) that we have committed against Hashem Eloheinu?

¹¹ Then shalt thou say unto them, Because avoteichem have forsaken Me, saith Hashem, and have walked after acharei elohim, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not been shomer over My torah;

¹² And ye have done more wickedly than avoteichem; for, behold, ye walk every one after the sherirut (stubbornness) of his lev harah, that they may not pay heed unto Me:

¹³ Therefore will I cast you out of ha’aretz hazot into ha’aretz that ye know not, neither ye nor avoteichem; and there shall ye serve elohim acherim yomam valailah; for I will not show you [plural] chaninah (favor).

¹⁴ Therefore, hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that it shall no more be said, Hashem liveth, that brought up the Bnei Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim;

¹⁵ But, Hashem liveth, that brought up the Bnei Yisroel from the eretz tzaphon, and from kol ha’aratz where He had dispersed them; and I will bring them again into their adamah that I gave unto their avot.

¹⁶ Behold, I will send for many dayagim (fisherman), saith Hashem, and they shall fish them out; and after that will I send for many tzayadim (hunters), and they shall hunt them from every har (mountain), and from every givah (hill), and out of the crevices of the sela’im (rocks).

¹⁷ For Mine eyes are upon all their drakhim; they are not hid from My face, neither is their avon (iniquity) hid from Mine eyes.

¹⁸ And first I will recompense their avon (iniquity) and their sin mishneh (double); because they have defiled My Eretz (land), they have filled Mine nachalah with the nevelot (lifeless forms, carcasses) of their detestable and abominable idols.

¹⁹ Hashem, my strength, and my ma’oz (fortress), and my refuge in the yom tzarah, the Goyim shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely Avoteinu have inherited sheker, hevel, and things wherein there is no profit.

²⁰ Shall man make elohim unto himself and they are not Elohim?

²¹ Therefore, Behold, I will this time cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine yad and My gevurah; and they shall know that My Shem is Hashem.

17 The chattat Yehudah is written with an et barzel (iron pen), and with the tzipporen shamir (point of a diamond); it is engraved upon the luach (tablet) of their lev, and upon the karenot (horns) of your mizbechot (altars);

² Whilst their banim remember their mizbechot and their asherim by the leafy trees upon the high hills.

³ O My mountain in the sadeh, I will give over thy wealth and all thy otzerot (treasures) as plunder, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy territories.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt let go of thine nachalah that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine oyevim in ha’aretz which thou knowest not; for ye have kindled an eish in Mine anger, which shall burn ad-olam (forever).

⁵ Thus saith Hashem: Arur (cursed) be the gever that trusteth in adam, and maketh basar his zero’a, and whose lev turneth away from Hashem.

⁶ For he shall be like the shrub in the aravah (desert), and shall not see when tov cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the midbar, in an eretz melechah (salt land) and not inhabited.

⁷ Baruch hagever asher yivtach baHashem (Blessed is the man that trusteth in Hashem), and whose mivtach (confidence) Hashem is.

⁸ For he shall be as an etz planted by the mayim, and that spreadeth out her shorashim (roots) by the brook, and shall not fear when chom (heat) cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be anxious in the shenat batzoret (year of drought), neither shall cease from yielding p’ri (fruit).

⁹ The lev (heart, mind) akov (is deceitful) above all things, and anush (incurable [in wickedness]); who can know it?

¹⁰ I, Hashem, search the lev, I test the kelayot (kidneys, i.e., most inward parts), requiting to every ish according to his drakhim, and according to the p’ri of his deeds.

¹¹ As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth osher (riches), and not by mishpat, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a naval (fool).

¹² A glorious high kisse from the beginning is the place of Mikdasheinu (our Beis HaMikdash).

¹³ Hashem, the Mikveh Yisroel, all that forsake Thee shall be put to shame, and they that turn away from Me shall be written down in ha’aretz, because they have forsaken Hashem, the Makor Mayim Chayyim (Fountain of Living Waters).

¹⁴ Heal me, Hashem, and I shall be healed; hoshi’eini (save me), and I shall be saved; for Thou art my tehillah (praise).

¹⁵ Hinei, they say unto me, Where is the Devar Hashem? Let it come now.

¹⁶ As for me, I have not hastened away from being a ro’eh (shepherd) to follow Thee; neither did I lust for the woeful day; Thou knowest; that which came out of my lips was before Thee.

¹⁷ Be not a mechittah (terror) unto me; Thou art my refuge in the Yom Ra’ah (Day of Evil, Day of Disaster, Day of Doom).

¹⁸ Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the Yom Ra’ah, and destroy them with mishneh (double) destruction.

¹⁹ Thus said Hashem unto me; Go and stand in the Sha’ar Bnei HaAm, whereby the melachim of Yehudah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;

²⁰ And say unto them, Hear ye the Devar Hashem, ye melachim of Yehudah, and all Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, that enter in by these she’arim (gates);

²¹ Thus saith Hashem: Be shomer over your nefashot, and bear no massa (burden) on Shabbos, nor bring through the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;

²² Neither carry forth a massa (burden) out of your batim (houses) on Shabbos, neither do ye any melachah (work), but keep Shabbos set apart as kodesh, just as I commanded Avoteichem.

²³ But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ozen (ear), but made their stubborn neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive musar (discipline).

²⁴ And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently pay heed unto Me, saith Hashem, to bring in no massa (burden) through the she’arim (gates) of this city on the day of Shabbos, but keep the day of Shabbos holy, to do no melachah (work) therein;

²⁵ Then shall there enter into the she’arim (gates) of this city melachim and sarim sitting upon the kisse Dovid, riding in chariots and on susim, they, and their sarim, the Ish Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; and this city shall be inhabited l’olam (forever).

²⁶ And they shall come from the towns of Yehudah, and from the places around Yerushalayim, and from Eretz Binyamin, and from the Shephalah (Lowlands), and from the har (hill country), and from the Negev bringing olah (burnt offering), and zevach (sacrifice), and minchah (grain offering), and levonah (frankincense), and bringing todah (thank offering), unto the Bais Hashem.

²⁷ But if ye will not pay heed unto Me to keep the day of Shabbos holy, and not to bear a massa (burden), when entering in at the She’arim of Yerushalayim on the day of Shabbos; then will I kindle an eish in the she’arim thereof, and it shall devour the fortresses of Yerushalayim, and it shall not be quenched.

18 The Davar which came to Yirmeyah from Hashem, saying,

² Arise, and go down to the bais hayotzer (the house of the potter, Creator), and there I will cause thee to hear My Devar.

³ Then I went down to the bais hayotzer, and, behold, he wrought a work on the [potter’s] wheel.

⁴ And the keli (vessel) that he was making of khomer (clay) was marred in the yad of the yotzer; so he made it again keli acher (another vessel, a different vessel), as seemed good to the eyes of the yotzer to make it.

⁵ Then the Devar Hashem came to me, saying,

⁶ O Bais Yisroel, cannot I do with you as this yotzer? saith Hashem. Hinei, as the khomer (clay) is in the yotzer’s yad, so are ye in Mine yad, O Bais Yisroel.

⁷ At what instant I shall speak concerning a Goy (nation), and concerning a mamlachah (kingdom), to uproot, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

⁸ If that Goy, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their ra’ah, I will relent of the ra’ah that I planned to do unto them.

⁹ And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Goy, and concerning a mamlachah, to build and to plant it;

¹⁰ If it do ra’ah in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will relent of the tov, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

¹¹ Now therefore go to, speak to the Ish Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus saith Hashem; Hinei, I yotzer (mold as a potter) ra’ah against you, and devise a plan against you; return ye now every ish from his derech ra’ah, and make your ways and your doings good.

¹² And they said, It is useless; but we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every ish do the sherirut (stubbornness) of his lev ra’ah.

¹³ Therefore thus saith Hashem, Ask ye now among the Goyim, Who hath heard such things? The Betulat Yisroel hath done a most horrible thing.

¹⁴ Does the sheleg (snow) of Levanon vanish from the tzur of the slope? Or shall the cold flowing mayim that come from distant sources cease?

¹⁵ Because My people hath forgotten Me, they have burned ketoret to worthless idols, and they have caused them to stumble in their drakhim from the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, and not on the derech built up;

¹⁶ To make their eretz desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shall shake his rosh.

¹⁷ I will scatter them as with an east ruach (wind) before the oyev; I will show them My oref (back), and not My panim (face), in the day of their calamity.

¹⁸ Then said they, Come and let us devise plans against Yirmeyah; for the torah shall not perish from the kohen, nor etzah from the chacham, nor the davar from the navi. Come, and let us attack him with the lashon, and let us not give heed to any of his devarim.

¹⁹ Give heed to me, Hashem, and take notice of the voice of them that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall ra’ah be repaid for tovah? For they have dug a pit for my nefesh. Remember that I stood before Thee to speak tovah concerning them, and to turn away Thy wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their banim to the ra’av (famine), and pour out their dahm by the force of the cherev; and let their nashim be bereaved as childless, and be almanot (widows); and let their anashim be put to death; let their bochurim be slain by the cherev in milchamah.

²² Let a cry be heard from their batim (houses), when Thou shalt bring a gedud (troop) suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid pachim (snares) for my raglayim.

²³ Yet, Hashem, Thou knowest all their etzah against me to slay me; do not make kapporah for their avon, neither blot out their chattat from Thy sight, but let them be overthrown before Thee; deal thus with them in the time of Thine anger.