Jeremiah 16 | King James Version

King James Version

1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, 2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; 4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: 7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in 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 it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? 11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; 12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: 13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. 14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. 18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. 19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

New International Reader’s Version

Times of trouble are coming

1 A message from the LORD came to me. He said, 2 ‘Jeremiah, you must not get married. You must not have any sons or daughters in this land.’ 3 Here is the LORD’s message about the children born in this place. He says about them and their parents, 4 ‘Some of them will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will be like human waste lying there on the ground. Others will die because of war and hunger. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will become food for the birds and the wild animals.’ 5 The LORD says, ‘Jeremiah, suppose a meal is being served because someone has died. Do not enter any house where that is happening. Do not go there to mourn or to comfort the family. I will not bless these people anymore. I have taken my love and pity away from them,’ announces the LORD. 6 ‘Important and unimportant people alike will die in this land. Their bodies will not be buried. No one will mourn for them. No one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer food or drink to comfort those who mourn for the dead. No one will do this even if someone’s father or mother has died. 8 ‘Do not enter a house where a feast is being held. Do not sit down there to eat and drink. 9 I am the LORD who rules over all. I am the God of Israel. I am telling you, “In your days I will judge your people. You will see it with your own eyes. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness here in Jerusalem. The voices of brides and grooms will not be heard anymore.” 10 ‘Tell these people all these things. They will ask you, “Why has the LORD decided to send so much trouble on us? We haven’t done anything wrong. We haven’t committed any sins against the LORD our God.” 11 When they say this, here is what you should tell them. “I did it because your people of long ago deserted me,” announces the LORD. “They followed other gods. They served them and worshipped them. They deserted me. They did not obey my law. 12 But you have done more evil things than they did. All of you are doing what your stubborn and evil hearts want you to do. You are not obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you away to another land. Neither you nor your people of long ago have known about it. There you will serve other gods day and night. And I will not give you any help.” 14 ‘But a new day is coming,’ announces the LORD. ‘At that time here is what people will no longer say. “As sure as he is alive, the LORD brought the Israelites up out of Egypt.” 15 Instead, they will say, “The LORD brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north. He gathered them out of all the countries where he had forced them to go. And that’s just as sure as he is alive.” I will bring them back to the land I gave their people of long ago. 16 ‘But now I will send for many fishermen,’ announces the LORD. ‘They will catch some of these people. After that, I will send for many hunters. They will hunt down the others on every mountain and hill. They will bring them out of the cracks in the rocks. 17 My eyes see everything these people do. What they do is not hidden from me. I always see their sin. 18 I will pay them back double for their sin and the evil things they have done. They have made my land “unclean”. They have set up lifeless statues of their evil gods. They have filled my land with them. I hate those gods.’ 19 LORD, you give me strength. You are like a fort to me. When I’m in trouble, I go to you for safety. The nations will come to you from one end of the earth to the other. They will gather together and say, ‘Our people of long ago didn’t own anything except statues of gods. The statues were worthless. They didn’t do them any good. 20 Do human beings really make their own gods? Yes. But they aren’t really gods at all!’ 21 The LORD says, ‘So I will teach them about myself. This time I will show them how powerful and mighty I am. Then they will know that I am the LORD.