Jeremiah 16
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message
16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who begot them in this land: 4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
5 “For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament, or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, my steadfast love and mercy. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead; nor shall any one give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 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, I will make to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12 and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me; 13 therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
God Will Restore Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 And[a] I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
19 O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of trouble,
to thee shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nought but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.
20 Can man make for himself gods?
Such are no gods!”
21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 16:18 Gk: Heb And first
Jeremiah 16
Common English Bible
Loss of hope
16 The Lord’s word came to me: 2 Don’t marry or have children in this place. 3 This is what the Lord proclaims concerning children who are born in this place and their mothers and fathers who give birth to them in this place:
4 They will die of horrible diseases.
No one will mourn for them or bury them.
They will be like refuse lying on the ground.
They will die from the sword and by famine,
and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.
5 This is what the Lord says:
Don’t enter a house where there is mourning;
don’t grieve or lament for them,
for I have taken away my blessing, kindness, and mercy from this people,
declares the Lord.
6 From the least to the greatest,
all will die in this land,
and there will be no funerals or time of mourning.
No one will gash themselves in grief
or shave their heads in sorrow.
7 No one will bring food[a] for the mourner
as comfort for the dead.
No one will offer a cup of consolation
for the loss of father or mother.
8 Don’t enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
Before your very eyes and in your own lifetime, I will silence in this place the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride.
10 When you proclaim all these things to the people, and they ask you, “Why has the Lord pronounced such massive devastation against us? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the Lord our God?” 11 then you should tell them: It’s because your ancestors have deserted me and followed other gods, declares the Lord. They have served and worshipped them, while abandoning me and refusing to keep my Instruction. 12 And you, you have acted worse than your ancestors, each of you following your own willful, evil hearts and paying no attention to me. 13 So I will banish you from this land to a place that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.
14 But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt”; 15 instead, they will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them.” I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.
16 I’m going to send hordes of fishermen to catch them, declares the Lord. Afterward I will send a party of hunters to hunt them down on every mountain, hill, and cave. 17 I am watching their every move; not one is hidden from me. Nor is their sin concealed from my sight. 18 I will initially pay them back double for their evil and sin, because they have corrupted my land with their disgusting, lifeless idols and have filled my inheritance with their detestable practices.
19 Lord, you are my strength and my stronghold;
you are my refuge in time of trouble.
The nations will flock to you
from the ends of the earth,
and they will say:
“Our ancestors have inherited utter lies,
things that are hollow and useless.”
20 Can humans make their own gods?
If so, they are not gods at all!
21 Therefore, I will teach them;
this time I will teach them
my power and my might.
They will understand that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 16:7 LXX; Heb break for them
Jeremiah 16
Contemporary English Version
Jeremiah Must Live His Message
16 The Lord said to me:
2 Jeremiah, don't get married and have children—Judah is no place to raise a family. 3 I'll tell you what's going to happen to children and their parents here. 4 They will die of horrible diseases and of war and starvation. No one will give them a funeral or bury them, and their bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals. And what's left will lie on the ground like manure.
5 When someone dies, don't visit the family or show any sorrow. I will no longer love or bless or have any pity on the people of Judah. 6 Rich and poor alike will die and be left unburied. No one will mourn and show their sorrow by cutting themselves or shaving their heads.[a] 7 No one will bring food and wine to help comfort those who are mourning the death of their father or mother.
8 Don't even set foot in a house where there is eating and drinking and celebrating. 9 (A) Warn the people of Judah that I, the Lord All-Powerful, will put an end to all their parties and wedding celebrations. 10 They will ask, “Why has the Lord our God threatened us with so many disasters? Have we done something wrong or sinned against him?”
11 Then tell them I have said:
People of Judah, your ancestors turned away from me; they rejected my laws and teachings and started worshiping other gods. 12 And you have done even worse! You are stubborn, and instead of obeying me, you do whatever evil comes to your mind. 13 So I will throw you into a land that you and your ancestors know nothing about, a place where you will have to worship other gods both day and night. And I won't feel the least bit sorry for you.
14 A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living Lord who rescued Israel from Egypt. 15 Instead, you will call me the Living Lord who rescued you from that country in the north and from the other countries where I had forced you to go.
Someday I will bring you back to this land that I gave your ancestors. 16 But for now, I am sending enemies who will catch you like fish and hunt you down like wild animals in the hills and the caves.
17 I can see everything you are doing, even if you try to hide your sins from me. 18 I will punish you double for your sins, because you have polluted my own land. You have filled it with lifeless idols that remind me of dead bodies.
The Lord Gives Strength
I prayed to the Lord:
19 Our Lord, you are the one
who gives me strength
and protects me like a fortress
when I am in trouble.
People will come to you
from distant nations and say,
“Our ancestors worshiped
false and useless gods,
20 worthless idols
made by human hands.”
21 Then the Lord replied,
“That's why I will teach them
about my power,
and they will know that I
truly am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- 16.6 mourn and show their sorrow by cutting themselves or shaving their heads: A custom in some Canaanite religions.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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