Jeremiah
Chapter 16
1 God’s message came to me, saying,
2 Do not marry or have sons or daughters here.
3 God says this about the boys and girls born here, about their mothers who gave birth to them, and about their fathers who fathered them in this land;
4 They will die painful deaths; no one will mourn for them; they won’t be buried; they’ll be like waste on the ground. They will be killed by war and hunger; and their bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals.
5 God says, “Do not go into the house of mourning, nor grieve or weep for them, for I have removed my peace from these people,” says God, “along with kindness and compassion.”
6 Everyone, both important and unimportant, will die in this land. They won’t be buried, and no one will mourn, cut themselves, or shave their heads for them.
7 People will not cut themselves in grief for others or offer comfort for the dead, nor will anyone give a comforting drink for someone’s father or mother.
8 Do not go into the place where people feast, to sit with them and eat and drink.
9 God, the God of Israel, says: I will make the sounds of joy and celebration, the voices of the bride and groom, stop in this place before your very eyes during your lifetime.
10 When you tell these people everything I’ve said, they will ask you, “Why has God declared such great disaster for us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against our God?”
11 Then you will tell them, ‘Your ancestors left me,’ says God, ‘followed other gods, served and worshiped them, abandoned me, and didn’t follow my laws.’
12 You have acted worse than your ancestors; look, each of you follows their own wicked desires, refusing to listen to me.
13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land you and your ancestors don’t know. There you will worship other gods all the time. I will not be kind to you there.
14 So, listen, the days will come, God says, that people will no longer say, “God lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt.”
15 But God lives, who brought the people of Israel from the northern land and all the places where he scattered them: and I will return them to their own land that I gave to their ancestors.
16 Look, I will send many fishermen, says God, and they will fish for people; then I will send many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain, on every hill, and from the rock holes.
17 I see all their actions; nothing they do is hidden from me, nor is their wrongdoing hidden from my sight.
18 First, I will repay their wrongdoing and sin twice over, because they have polluted my land and filled my inheritance with the dead bodies of their disgusting and hateful things.
19 God, my strength and safe place, when trouble comes, people from all over the world will turn to you and admit that what their ancestors believed was false and useless.
20 Can a person make their own gods when they are not really gods?
21 So, I will let them see who I am this time, let them know my power and strength; and they will understand that my name is God.