Jeremiah 16

Revised Geneva Translation

16 The Word of the LORD came also to me, saying,

² “You shall neither take yourself a wife nor have sons or daughters in this place.”

³ For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them, and concerning their fathers who beget them in this land:

⁴ “They shall die of deaths and diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung upon the Earth. And they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine. And their carcasses shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the beasts of the earth.”

⁵ For thus says the LORD: “Do not enter into the house of mourning, or go to lament, or be moved for them. For I have taken My Peace from this people,” says the LORD, “mercy and compassion.

⁶ “Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them.

⁷ “They shall not stretch out for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall they give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

⁸ “Also, you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.”

⁹ For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, in your days, in your eyes, I will cause the voice of mirth to cease from this place, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰ “And when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great plague against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity and what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹ “Then shall you say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD, ‘and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law,

¹² ‘and you have done worse than your fathers (for behold, each one walks after the stubbornness of his wicked heart and will not hear Me),

¹³ ‘therefore I will drive you out of this land into a land that you do not know, you nor your fathers. And there you shall serve other gods, day and night, for I will show you no grace.

¹⁴ ‘Behold, therefore,’ says the LORD, ‘the days come that it shall no more be said, “The LORD lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,”

¹⁵ ‘but, “The LORD lives, Who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the North, and from all the lands where He had scattered them.” And I will bring them back into their land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶ ‘Behold,’ says the LORD, ‘I will send out many fishermen, and they shall fish for them. And afterward, I will send out many hunters. And they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the caves of the rocks.

¹⁷ ‘For My Eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from My Face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My Eyes.

¹⁸ ‘And first, I will repay their iniquity and their sin double, because they have defiled My land, and have filled My inheritance with their filthy carcasses and their abominations.’”

¹⁹ O LORD, my fortress and my strength and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the world, and shall say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, in which there was no profit.”

²⁰ Shall a man make gods for himself, and they are not gods?

²¹ “Behold, therefore, I will teach them this once. I will show them My Hand and My Power. And they shall know that My Name is the LORD.”