Chapter 16.
The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife,
neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are
born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning
their fathers that begat them in this land.
They 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 carcasses shall be meat for the
fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
For 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.
Both 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
bold for them, neither 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.
Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them and to eat and
to drink.
For 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.
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show 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?
Then 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,
and 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.
Therefore 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, or I will not
show you favor.
Therefore 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.
But 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 them unto their fathers.
Behold, 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.
For mine eyes are upon all their ways.
They are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine
eyes.
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have
defiled my land.
They have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and
abominable things.
O 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.
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Therefore 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.