Jeremiah

16 And Jehovah’s word came to me 2 “You are not to take a wife nor have children in this place; 3 for Jehovah has said of the children that are born in this place and of their mothers that give them birth and of their fathers that have them born in this place, 4 They will die woeful deaths, will not be bewailed nor buried, will be just dung lying over the soil, and will come to an end by warfare and starvation, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

5 “For Jehovah says, Do not go into a house where there is a wake, nor go to wail, nor lament over them; for I am withdrawing my goodwill from this people, quoth Jehovah, withdrawing friendship and sympathy, 6 and great and small shall die in the country without being buried, and they will not bewail them nor hack themselves nor go bald for them, 7* nor break bread to a mourner to comfort him for a death, nor hand him a comfort-cup for his father or his mother. 8 And do not go into a house where there is a banquet to sit with them to eat and drink. 9 For Israel’s God Jehovah of Armies says, Here I am going to abolish out of this place before your eyes and in your days the voice of rejoicing and of merrymaking, the voice of bridegroom and of bride.

10 “And when you tell this people all these things and they say to you ‘On what account has Jehovah denounced all this disaster against us? and what is our guilt, and what our sin, that we have committed against our God Jehovah?’ 11 you shall say to them ‘On account of your fathers’ having left me, quoth Jehovah, and followed other gods and worshiped them and done reverence to them, while me they left and my instructions they did not observe, 12 and your having done worse than your fathers: here you are each following his own wicked willful heart, not listening to me. 13 And I will hurl you off from this country to a country you and your fathers have never known, and there you will worship other gods day and night, as I will give you no grace. 14 So here come days, quoth Jehovah, that they will no longer say “By Jehovah who brought the sons of Israel up out of Egypt” 15 but “By Jehovah who brought the sons of Israel up out of the northern country and out of all the countries into which he had banished them and brought them back onto the soil he had given to their fathers.” 16 Here I am sending for many fishermen, quoth Jehovah, and they shall fish them out; and after that I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them out off every mountain and off every hill and out of the fissures of the crags. 17 For my eyes are on all their courses, they are not screened from before me, and their guilt is not concealed from under my eyes. 18 And I will first repay double their guilt and sin, for their having profaned my country with the carcasses of their disgusting idols and filled my estate with their abominations.’”

19 Jehovah, my strength and stronghold and my refuge on a day of distress, to you nations will come from the ends of the earth and say “Our fathers inherited mere falsehood, superstitions, and things of no use.” 20 Is a man to make himself gods, when they are not gods? 21 So here this time I am going to let them know, to let them know my hand and my energy; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.