⁵ For thus says the Lord: ^(A)“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.

¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall ^(A)neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh in silence, ^(B)make no mourning for the dead; ^(C)bind your turban on your head, and ^(D)put your sandals on your feet; ^(E)do not cover your ^[a]lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”

¹⁸ So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.

¹⁹ And the people said to me, ^(F)“Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?”

²⁰ Then I answered them, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²¹ ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, ^(G)I will profane My sanctuary, ^[b]your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the ^[c]delight of your soul; ^(H)and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. ²² And you shall do as I have done; ^(I)you shall not cover your ^[d]lips nor eat man’s bread of sorrow. ²³ Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; ^(J)you shall neither mourn nor weep, but ^(K)you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another.

¹⁷ Then My anger shall be ^(A)aroused against them in that day, and ^(B)I will forsake them, and I will ^(C)hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[a]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ^(D)‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is ^(E)not among us?’

⁶ Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; ^(A)neither shall men lament for them, ^(B)cut themselves, nor ^(C)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 ^(D)drink for their father or their mother.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Even if ^(B)Moses and ^(C)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[a]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. ² And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

³ “And I will ^(F)appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, ^(G)the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will hand them over to ^(H)trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of ^(I)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

^4 (A)Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to ^(B)take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

⁵ And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. ^6 (A)So nation was ^[a]destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.