JeremiahChapter 16
Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.
1Then the LORD gave me this message: 2"You must not get married or have sons or daughters in this place." 3For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this place. He also speaks about the mothers who gave birth to them and the fathers of those children in this land. 4"They will die of terrible diseases. No one will cry for them or bury them. They will lie like dung on the ground. The sword and hunger will finish them off. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth." 5Yes, this is what the LORD says: "Do not go into a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or to comfort them. For I have taken away my peace from these people. I have taken away my faithful love and my mercy," says the LORD. 6"Both important and common people will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. No one will cut himself or shave his head for them. 7No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn the dead. No one will even give them a cup to comfort them when a father or mother dies. 8And you must not go into a house where people are feasting. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink. 9For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to take away the sounds of joy and gladness from this place. The voices of the bride and groom will be gone. This will happen while you watch, in your own lifetime. 10You will tell these people all these things. Then they will ask you, 'Why has the LORD said that all this great trouble will come on us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done against the LORD our God?' 11Then answer them, 'It is because your fathers left me, says the LORD. They followed other gods. They served them and worshiped them. They left me and did not keep my teaching. 12And you have done even more evil than your fathers. Look how each of you follows his own stubborn, evil heart. You do not obey me. 13So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you to a land that you and your fathers have never known. There you will serve other gods day and night. For I will show you no kindness.' 14But look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.' 15Instead they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north. He brought them out of all the other lands where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to the land I gave to their ancestors. 16But for now I will send for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters. They will hunt them down on every mountain and hill. They will even find them in the cracks of the rocks. 17For my eyes see all they do. They are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden from my eyes. 18First I will pay them back double for their wrong and their sin. This is because they have made my land unclean with the dead bodies of their hateful idols. They have filled the land that belongs to me with their disgusting things." 19LORD, you are my strength and my fortress.
You are my safe place in the day of trouble.
The nations will come to you from the ends of the earth.
They will say, "Our fathers were given nothing but lies.
They had worthless idols that did no good at all. 20Can people make gods for themselves?
Those are not gods!" 21"So look, I will teach them.
This time I will show them my power and my strength.
Then they will know that my name is the LORD.