Jeremiah 16
Lexham English Bible
Jeremiah is Commanded Not to Marry
16 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[a] 2 “You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 “They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies[b] will become food for the birds[c] of the air, and for the wild animals[d] of the earth.”
5 For thus says Yahweh, “You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” declares[e] Yahweh, “the loyal love and the compassion. 6 Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. 7 And they will not break bread for the mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of the dead. And they will not give drink to them, the cup of desolation, for their fathers,[f] or for their mothers.[g] 8 And you shall not enter the house of the banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. 10 And then[h] when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, ‘Why[i] has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what is our iniquity, and what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?’ 11 Then you shall say to them, ‘Because[j] your ancestors[k] have forsaken me,’ declares[l] Yahweh, ‘and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws. 12 And you have behaved badly[m] more than your ancestors,[n] and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me. 13 So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors,[o] and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor.
The Nation’s Return to the Land
14 Therefore[p] look, days are coming,’ declares[q] Yahweh, ‘and it will no longer be said, “As Yahweh lives,[r] who led up the Israelites[s] from the land of Egypt,” 15 but only[t] “As Yahweh lives,[u] who led up the Israelites[v] from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had driven them,” for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.[w] 16 Look, I am sending for many fishermen,’ declares[x] Yahweh, ‘and they will fish them out, and afterward[y] I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from before me,[z] and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes. 18 And I will first doubly repay[aa] their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies[ab] of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.’”
19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,
and my refuge in the day of distress,
to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth,
and they will say, “Our ancestors[ac] have inherited only lies,[ad]
vanity, and there is no profit in them.
20 Can a human make for himself gods?
Yet they are not gods!”
21 “Therefore[ae] look, I am about to let them know,
this time I am going to let them know
my power[af] and my might,
and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 16:1 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 16:4 Hebrew “dead body”
- Jeremiah 16:4 Hebrew “bird”
- Jeremiah 16:4 Hebrew “wild animal”
- Jeremiah 16:5 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 16:7 Hebrew “father”
- Jeremiah 16:7 Hebrew “mother”
- Jeremiah 16:10 Literally “And it will happen”
- Jeremiah 16:10 Literally “On what”
- Jeremiah 16:11 Literally “On that”
- Jeremiah 16:11 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 16:11 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 16:12 Literally “you have done evil to do”
- Jeremiah 16:12 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 16:13 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 16:14 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 16:14 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 16:14 Literally “The life of Yahweh”
- Jeremiah 16:14 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Jeremiah 16:15 Literally “but if”
- Jeremiah 16:15 Literally “The life of Yahweh”
- Jeremiah 16:15 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Jeremiah 16:15 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 16:16 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 16:16 Literally “after thus”
- Jeremiah 16:17 Literally “from to the face of me”
- Jeremiah 16:18 Literally “I will reward first second”
- Jeremiah 16:18 Hebrew “dead body”
- Jeremiah 16:19 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 16:19 Hebrew “lie”
- Jeremiah 16:21 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 16:21 Literally “hand”
Jeremiah 16
International Standard Version
The Lord’s Instruction to His Prophet
16 This message from the Lord came to me: 2 “You are not to take a wife, nor are you to have sons or daughters in this place.”
3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters who are born in this place, about their mothers who give birth to them, and about their fathers who father them in this land: 4 “They’ll die of deadly diseases. People won’t mourn for them, nor will they be buried. They’ll be dung on the surface of the ground, and they’ll come to an end with the sword and with famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land.”
5 For this is what the Lord says: “Don’t go to a house where there is mourning, don’t go to lament, nor to express sorrow to them. For I’ve taken my peace away from this people,” declares the Lord, “as well as gracious love and compassion. 6 Both the most and the least important people[a] will die in this land, and they won’t be buried. People won’t mourn for them. They won’t cut themselves,[b] nor will they shave their heads for them.[c] 7 They won’t break bread[d] for the mourner to be consoled for the dead. They won’t give anyone the cup of consolation to drink for his father or[e] mother. 8 Don’t go to a banquet to sit with people[f] to eat and drink.” 9 For this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “In this place I’m about to bring an end to the sounds of happiness and rejoicing, the sounds of the bridegroom and the bride. I’ll do it in front of your eyes and in your time.
10 “When you speak all these words to this people, they’ll say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors abandoned me,’ declares the Lord. ‘They followed other gods, served them, worshipped them, abandoned me, and didn’t keep my Law. 12 You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires,[g] refusing to listen to me. 13 I’ll throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I’ll show you no favor.’
14 “Therefore, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.’ 15 Rather it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the Lord[h] had banished them.’ I’ll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.
16 “I’m about to send many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they’ll catch them. Afterwards, I’ll send for many hunters and they’ll hunt for them on every mountain and hill and in the crevices of the rocks. 17 For I am watching all their ways; they are not hidden from my sight.[i] Their iniquity is not concealed from my eyes. 18 First I’ll repay them double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the dead bodies of their detestable images, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”[j]
19 Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of difficulty,
to you the nations will come,
and from the ends of the earth they’ll say,
“Surely our ancestors inherited deception,[k]
things that are worthless,
and in which there is no profit.”
20 Can a person make a god for himself?
They are not gods!
21 Therefore, I’m about to make them understand;
this time I’ll make them understand
my power and strength,
so they’ll understand that my name is the Lord.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 16:6 Lit. great and small; i.e. adults and children
- Jeremiah 16:6 A Canaanite mourning practice forbidden by Deut. 14:1
- Jeremiah 16:6 A common mourning practice in the ancient world
- Jeremiah 16:7 The Heb. lacks bread
- Jeremiah 16:7 The Heb. lacks father or
- Jeremiah 16:8 Lit. with them
- Jeremiah 16:12 Lit. following the stubbornness of their evil heart
- Jeremiah 16:15 Lit. he
- Jeremiah 16:17 Lit. from before me
- Jeremiah 16:18 Or their abominable idols
- Jeremiah 16:19 I.e. false gods or idols
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