³⁶ Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ^(A)‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷ and the corpse of Jezebel shall be ^(B)as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “Here lies Jezebel.” ’ ”

³⁰ For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. ^(A)“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to ^[a]pollute it. ³¹ And they have built the ^(B)high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to ^(C)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^(D)which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

³² “Therefore behold, ^(E)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^(F)for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. ³³ The ^(G)corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will cause to ^(H)cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For ^(I)the land shall be desolate.

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

8 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. ² They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and ^(A)which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered ^(B)nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.

¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, ^(A)and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; ^(B)they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

³ For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: ⁴ “They shall die ^(A)gruesome deaths; they shall not be ^(B)lamented nor shall they be ^(C)buried, but they shall be ^(D)like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ^(E)corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

⁵ For thus says the Lord: ^(F)“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. ⁶ Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; ^(G)neither shall men lament for them, ^(H)cut themselves, nor ^(I)make themselves bald for them. ⁷ Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to ^(J)drink for their father or their mother. ⁸ Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

⁹ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(K)I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of ^[a]mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.