16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
16:2 “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.”
16:3 For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:
16:4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”
16:5 For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD.
16:6 “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut himself or shave his head for them.
16:7 No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead–not even for a father or a mother–nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.
16:8 “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.
16:9 For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.
16:10 “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’
16:11 then say to them, ‘It is because your fathers forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.
16:12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me.
16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
16:14 “However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
16:15 but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.
16:16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.
16:17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
16:18 I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”
16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
16:20 Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”
16:21 “Therefore I will teach them–this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
16:1 The word of Jehovah also came to me, saying,
16:2 You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.
16:3 For thus says Jehovah concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning their mothers who bear them and concerning their fathers who beget them in this land:
16:4 They will die grievous deaths and will not be mourned or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and will be consumed by sword and by famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
16:5 For thus says Jehovah, Do not enter the house of mourning, and do not go to mourn, and do not lament for them, for I have taken away My peace from this people, declares Jehovah, My lovingkindness and compassions.
16:6 Both the great and the small will die in this land; they will not be buried, nor will they be mourned; and no one will cut himself or make himself bald for them.
16:7 Nor will they break bread for them in mourning to comfort anyone for the dead or give them a cup of consolation to drink for his father or for his mother.
16:8 And you shall not enter the house of feasting to sit with them and eat and drink.
16:9 For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
16:10 And when you tell this people all these words and they say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? And what is our iniquity? And what is our sin which we have sinned against Jehovah our God?
16:11 Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares Jehovah, and they have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them; but Me they have forsaken, and My law they have not kept.
16:12 And you have done more evil than your fathers; for indeed, you go about, each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to Me.
16:13 And I will cast you far away from this land into a land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show favor to you.
16:14 Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when it will no longer be said, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,
16:15 But, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where He had driven them; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their fathers.
16:16 I am soon sending many fishermen, declares Jehovah, and they will catch them; and afterward I will send many hunters, and they will hunt for them from every mountain and from every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.
16:17 For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not concealed from My face, neither is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
16:18 But first I will recompense double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have profaned My land with the corpses of their detestable things, and their abominations have filled My inheritance.
16:19 O Jehovah, my strength and my stronghold, / My refuge in the day of distress; / To You the nations come / From the ends of the earth and say, / Surely our fathers inherited falsehood / And vanity, in which there is no profit.
16:20 Shall a man make gods for himself, / Though they are no gods?
16:21 Therefore now, I am causing them to know; / At this time I will cause them to know / My hand and My might, / And they will know that My name is Jehovah.