Jeremiah 16

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

1The LORD spoke to Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet, someone who told people what God said.

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

2God said, "Do not get married. 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;

3Here is what the LORD says about the boys and girls born in this place. He also speaks about the mothers and fathers who had them here.

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.

4They will die of terrible sicknesses. No one will cry for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like waste. War and hunger will finish them. Birds and wild animals will eat their bodies.

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.

5The LORD says, "Do not go into a house where people are sad about someone who died. Do not go to cry with them or say you are sorry. I have taken my peace away from these people. I have taken away my kind love and my mercy."

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:

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

NoteCutting your skin and shaving your head were things people did long ago to show they were very sad when someone died.

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.

7"No one will bring food to comfort people who are sad. No one will even give them a cup of comfort when a father or mother dies."

NoteThe "cup of consolation" was a drink neighbors gave to a family after someone died, to comfort them.

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

8"And do not go into a house where there is a party. 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 Hosts says, the God of Israel. He is the God who leads heaven's armies. "While you are still here to see it, I will stop the happy sounds in this place. The sounds of joy and laughing will stop. The voices of the bride and the groom will stop."

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 the people all this, they will ask you why. They will say, "Why has the LORD said all this trouble will come to us? What did we do wrong? What sin did we do 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 will tell them, "It is because your fathers left me, says the LORD. They went after other gods. They served those gods and bowed down to them. They left me and did not keep my law."

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:

12"And you have done worse than your fathers did. Each of you follows his own stubborn, bad heart. You will not listen 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.

13"So I will throw you out of this land. You will go to a land you do not know. Your fathers did not know it either. There you will serve other gods day and night. I will show you no kindness there."

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;

14The LORD says a time is coming. People will not say the old words anymore. The old words were, "The LORD lives, who brought Israel 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, "The LORD lives, who brought Israel back from the land in the north." He will bring them from every land where he sent them away. "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.

16"But first I will send for many fishermen, says the LORD. They will catch these people. After that I will send for many hunters. They will hunt them on every mountain and hill. They will find them even in 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.

17"I see everything they do. Nothing they do is hidden from me. The wrong they do 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.

18"First I will pay them back twice over for their wrong and their sin. They made my land dirty with their idols, which are dead and lifeless. They filled my land 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.

19Jeremiah said, "LORD, you are my strength. You are my strong safe place when trouble comes. People from far away lands will come to you. They will say, 'Our fathers were handed nothing but lies. What they got was empty and no help at all.'"

NoteThe KJV word "Gentiles" means people from other nations, not from Israel.

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

20"Can a person make gods for himself? Things like that 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.

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