Jeremiah 16
All 21 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1The LORD spoke to me again and said,
- 2"Don't marry a wife, and don't have sons or daughters in this place."
- 3This is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this place, their mothers who gave birth to them, and their fathers who fathered them in this land:
- 4They will die of grievous deaths. They will not be mourned, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
- 5The LORD also said, "Don't enter a house where people are mourning. Don't go to grieve or weep for them, because I have taken my peace away from this people," declares the LORD, "along with my loving kindness and mercy."
- 6Both the great and the small will die in this land. They won't be buried, and no one will mourn for them, cut themselves, or shave their heads for them.
- 7No one will tear themselves in mourning to comfort them for the dead. No one will offer them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or mother.
- 8"And don't go into a house where people are celebrating to sit down and eat and drink with them."
- 9This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, before your eyes and during your lifetime, I will end the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and bride in this place.
- 10"When you tell this people everything I've said, they'll ask you, 'Why has the LORD declared such terrible things against us? What did we do wrong? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?'"
- 11"Then tell them: 'Because your ancestors abandoned me,' declares the LORD. 'They chased after other gods, served them, and worshiped them. They turned their backs on me and refused to obey my law.'"
- 12'And you have done worse than your fathers; for, look, each of you follows the desires of your evil heart, so that you do not listen to me.'
- 13'So I will throw you out of this land into a foreign country that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you'll serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.'
- 14"But listen — the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer swear by saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt.'"
- 15"Instead, they'll say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back from the land of the north and from every country where he had scattered them.' I will bring them home again to the land I gave their ancestors."
- 16"Look, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they will catch them. Afterward, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, every hill, and the holes in the rocks."
- 17"My eyes see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from my face, and their sin is not concealed from my sight."
- 18First, I will repay them double for their sin and wickedness, because they have polluted my land and filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.
- 19LORD, you are my strength, my fortress, and my refuge in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies — worthless idols that did them no good at all."
- 20"Can people make their own gods? Those aren't gods at all!"
- 21"So this time I will make them understand. I will show them my power and my might, and they will know that my name is the LORD."