Jeremiah Chapter 16

¹ A Message from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel,

That Came to Me

Day of Disaster

² “Don’t get married or have children here.” ³ This is what the LORD says about children born here and their parents,

         ⁴“They’ll die from disease,

                  not mourned or buried.

      They’ll come to an end by sword and famine,

            and lie like manure on the ground.

      Their dead bodies will feed the buzzards from the sky

            and the scavengers on the ground.                

Jer 16:1-4

⁵ “Don’t go in a house to mourn with people, cry, or console them. From this nation I’ve withdrawn my peace, my enduring love, my mercy. ⁶ From least to greatest will die in the land. There won’t be any friends to bury them, mourn for them, cut themselves, or shave their head for them. ⁷ People won’t offer them a meal to comfort them in mourning or give them a cup to drink to console them for their father or mother.   ⁸ Don’t go to sit and eat with them. ⁹ I’m going to eliminate celebration and happiness here, the happy voices of bride and groom.              Jer 16:5-9   

¹⁰ “When you tell people that, they’ll say, ‘Why has the LORD our God declared so much catastrophe on us? What did we do to him?’ ¹¹ Tell them, ‘Your ancestors abandoned me for other gods, bowed to them, served them, and didn’t keep my Law. ¹² You’ve done worse than they did, following your own stubborn hearts and ignoring me. ¹³ So I’m going to expel you from this land to one where you and your ancestors have never been. You’ll serve other gods there because I won’t help you.

Hope Despite Disaster

¹⁴ “The time’s coming when people won’t swear, ‘As sure as the LORD lives who brought the Israelites out of Egypt.’ ¹⁵ They’ll swear, ‘As sure as the LORD lives who brought the Israelites back from the countries up north where he’d banished them.’ I will return them to the land I gave their ancestors.

¹⁶ “I’ll send lots of fishermen to fish for them, lots of hunters to hunt for them in every mountain, hill, and cave. ¹⁷ I see what they’re doing; their sin’s not hid from me. ¹⁸ But first I’ll doubly repay their sin because they’ve polluted my permanent possession with the carcasses of their detestable idols and carved images.”          

Jer 16:10-18

Jeremiah’s Prayer

¹⁹ LORD, my strength and fortress

      my refuge in troubled times, 

      nations around the world will come to you and say,

            “We didn’t inherit anything but lies from our ancestors,

            foolish idols that can’t do anything.”

                  ²⁰Can mortals make gods?

            Things like that aren’t gods!                                     

Jer 16:19-20

²¹ So the LORD says,

         “Now I’ll show them my strength and power;

      at last they’ll learn that I’m The LORD.”                        

Jer 16:21