The Day of Disaster

16 Then the Lord spoke his word to me: ² “You must not ·get married [^Ltake a wife for yourself] or have sons or daughters in this place.”

³ The Lord says this about the sons and daughters born in this ·land [^Lplace] and their mothers who bear them and fathers who ·father [^Lbeget] them in this land: ⁴ “They will die of ·terrible diseases [plagues; pestilence], and no one will ·cry for them [mourn] or bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. They will ·die [perish] ·in war [^Lby sword], or ·they will starve to death [^Lby famine]. ·Their bodies [^LThey] will be food for the birds of the ·sky [air; heavens] and for the ·wild animals [^Lbeasts of the land].”

⁵ So this is what the Lord says [^Caddressed to Jeremiah]: “Do not go into a house where there is a funeral ·meal [feast; ^Ca pagan mourning festival; Amos 6:7]. Do not go there to ·cry for the dead [lament] or to ·show your sorrow for [bemoan] them, because I have taken back my ·blessing [peace; welfare], my ·love [loyalty], and my ·pity [compassion] from these people,” says the Lord. ⁶ “·Important people and common people [^LGreat and small] will die in this land [^Cof Judah]. No one will bury them or ·cry [lament] for them or ·cut [gash] himself or shave his head for them [^Cpagan rituals of mourning; Lev. 19:27–28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1]. ⁷ No one will ·bring food [break bread; ^Lbreak] to comfort those who are crying for the dead. No one will offer a ·drink [^Lcup] to comfort someone whose mother or father has died.

⁸ “Do not go into a ·house where the people are having a feast [banquet house; ^Ldrinking house] to sit down to eat and drink, ⁹ because this is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; ^Tof hosts], the God of Israel, says: I will soon stop the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of brides and bridegrooms in this place. This will happen ·during your lifetime [^Lin your days and before your eyes].

¹⁰ “When you tell this people [^Cof Judah] these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord said these ·terrible [evil; harmful] things to us? What ·have we done wrong [^Lis our iniquity]? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’

¹¹ “Then say to them: ‘This is because your ·ancestors [fathers] ·quit following [abandoned; left; forsook] me,’ says the Lord. ‘And they ·followed [went after] other gods and served and ·worshiped [bowed down to] them. Your ·ancestors [fathers] ·left [abandoned; forsook] me and ·quit obeying [^Ldid not keep/guard] my ·teaching [law; instruction]. ¹² But you have done even more ·evil [harm] than your ·ancestors [fathers]. You are ·very stubborn and do only what you want to do [^Lgoing after your stubborn heart]; you have not ·obeyed [listened to] me. ¹³ So I will ·throw [hurl] you out of this ·country [land] and send you into a land that you and your ·ancestors [fathers] never knew. There you can ·serve [worship] other gods day and night, because I will not show you any favors.’

¹⁴ “Therefore the ·time [^Ldays] is coming,” says the Lord, when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the ·people [^Lsons] of Israel out of Egypt.’ ¹⁵ They will say instead, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the ·Israelites [^Lsons of Israel] from the northern land [^CBabylon] and from all the countries where he had ·sent [driven] them…’ And I will ·bring them back [restore them] to the land I gave to their ·ancestors [fathers; ^Ca second Exodus; Is. 40:1–11; 52:10; Hos. 2:14–15].

¹⁶ “I will soon send for many fishermen,” says the Lord. “And they will catch them [^Cthe people of Judah]. After that, I will send for many hunters. And they will hunt them on every mountain and hill and in the ·cracks [clefts] of the rocks. ¹⁷ ·I see everything they do [^LMy eyes are on all their ways]. They ·cannot hide from me the things they do [^Lare not hidden from me]; their ·sin [iniquity] is not ·hidden [concealed] from my eyes. ¹⁸ I will first pay them back twice for ·every one of their sins [^Ltheir iniquities and their sins], because they have made my land unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] with their lifeless idols. They have filled my ·country [inheritance] with their ·hateful idols [^Labominations].”