Jeremiah

The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

1The LORD spoke his word to me. He said,

2Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

2"Do not marry, and do not have sons or daughters in this place."

3For 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;

3This is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this place, and about the mothers who gave birth to them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land:

4They 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.

4"They will die from terrible diseases. No one will cry for them or bury them. They will lie on the ground like waste. War and hunger will finish them off. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals."

Note"Meat for the fowls of heaven" in the old English means food for the birds of the sky. "Meat" simply meant food of any kind in 1611.

5For 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.

5This is what the LORD says: "Do not go into a house where people are mourning a death. Do not go to weep or to comfort them. I have taken my peace away from these people, and my faithful love and my pity too, says the LORD.

6Both 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:

6Important people and ordinary people will die in this land. No one will bury them or cry for them. No one will cut himself or shave his head for them.

NoteCutting the skin and shaving the head were ways people in that time showed deep grief at a funeral.

7Neither 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.

7No one will bring food to comfort those who are grieving. No one will offer even a cup of comfort when a father or mother dies.

NoteThe "cup of consolation" was a drink given to a grieving family by friends who came to comfort them.

8Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

8And do not go into a house where there is a feast. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink.

9For 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.

9This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: Right in front of you, while you are still alive, I will stop the sounds of joy and happiness in this place. The voices of the bride and the groom will stop too.

Note"The LORD of hosts" means the LORD who commands the armies of heaven.

10And 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?

10When you tell these people all of this, they will ask you, 'Why has the LORD said all this trouble will come to us? What have we done wrong? What is the sin we have committed against the LORD our God?'

11Then 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;

11Then you must tell them: 'It is because your fathers left me, says the LORD. They followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them. They turned away from me and did not keep my teaching.

12And 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:

12And you have done worse than your fathers did. Look at how each of you follows his own stubborn, evil heart instead of listening to me.

13Therefore 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.

13So I will throw you out of this land into a land you do not know, one that your fathers never knew. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no kindness.'

14Therefore, 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;

14"But the days are coming, says the LORD, when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought Israel up out of Egypt.'

15But, 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.

15Instead they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought Israel up out of the land in the north, and out of all the lands where he had scattered them.' For I will bring them back to the land I gave their fathers.

16Behold, 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.

16But first I will send for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they will catch these people. After that I will send many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, and out of the cracks in the rocks.

17For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

17I see everything they do. Nothing they do is hidden from me. Their guilt is not hidden from my eyes.

18And 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.

18First I will pay them back double for their guilt and their sin. They made my land dirty with the lifeless bodies of their disgusting idols. They filled the land that belongs to me with things I hate."

19O 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.

19LORD, you are my strength and my safe tower, the place I run to when trouble comes. Nations will come to you from the far ends of the earth. They will say, "Our fathers passed down nothing but lies. Their idols were empty and did no good at all.

20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

20Can a person make his own gods? Those are not gods at all!"

21Therefore, 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.

21"So this time I will teach them. I will show them my power and my strength. Then they will know that my name is the LORD."