Jeremiah16
New King James Version
1The word of the Lord also came to me, saying,
2“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
3For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land:
4“They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
6Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.
7Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother.
8Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before 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.
10“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’
11then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
14“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19O Lord, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
20Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?
21“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the Lord.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jeremiah 16.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Prohibitions given to the prophet. (1-9). The justice of God in these judgments. (10-13). Future restoration of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles. (14-21).
vv1-9
The prophet must conduct himself as one who expected to see his country ruined very shortly. In the prospect of sad times, he is to abstain from marriage, mourning for the dead, and pleasure. Those who would convince others of the truths of God, must make it appear by their self-denial, that they believe it themselves. Peace, inward and outward, family and public, is wholly the work of God, and from his loving-kindness and mercy. When He takes his peace from any people, distress must follow. There may be times when it is proper to avoid things otherwise our duty; and we should always sit loose to the pleasures and concerns of this life.
vv10-13
Here seems to be the language of those who quarrel at the word of God, and instead of humbling and condemning themselves, justify themselves, as though God did them wrong. A plain and full answer is given. They were more obstinate in sin than their fathers, walking every one after the devices of his heart. Since they will not hearken, they shall be hurried away into a far country, a land they know not. If they had God's favour, that would make even the land of their captivity pleasant.
vv14-21
The restoration from the Babylonish captivity would be remembered in place of the deliverance from Egypt; it also typified spiritual redemption, and the future deliverance of the church from antichristian oppression. But none of the sins of sinners can be hidden from God, or shall be overlooked by him. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall destroy the Jews, by fraud like fishers, by force like hunters. The prophet, rejoicing at the hope of mercy to come, addressed the Lord as his strength and refuge. The deliverance out of captivity shall be a figure of the great salvation to be wrought by the Messiah. The nations have often known the power of Jehovah in his wrath; but they shall know him as the strength of his people, and their refuge in time of trouble.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
אִשָּׁה: a woman
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
בַּת: a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)
אוֹנָם: Onam, the name of an Edomite and of an Israelite
מָקוֹם: properly, a standing, i.e. a spot; but used widely of a locality (general or specific); also (figuratively) of a condition (of body or mind)
כֹּה: properly, like this, i.e. by implication, (of manner) thus (or so); also (of place) here (or hither); or (of time) now
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
Cross References
Jeremiah 16Repeats verbatim the comparison of the Egypt deliverance with the greater future restoration.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The NT parallel advising singleness during times of intense, present distress and calamity.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Explicitly details the forbidden custom of eating the "bread of men"/mourning feasts.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The Mosaic law prohibiting pagan practices of cutting oneself and baldness for the dead.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identical prophetic warning of silencing the voices of mirth, gladness, and brides.
Supported by JFB
Fulfills Moses' warning that exile would result in serving other gods in unknown lands.
Supported by JFB
Parallel imagery of hooks and fishers used for God's sweeping judgment on Israel.
Supported by JFB
Scriptural root regarding food offered in mourning and associated with uncleanness.
Supported by JFB
Identical rhetorical question from the people demanding why God has pronounced this evil.
Supported by JFB
Chaldeans depicted as taking men like fish in a net.
Supported by JFB
Wisdom parallel that the ways of man are fully before God's eyes.
Supported by JFB
Direct verbal link with casting carcasses of idols onto the carcasses of their worshippers.
Supported by JFB
Defines the "grievous deaths" as those consigned to pestilence, sword, and famine.
Supported by JFB
Covenantal template for the nations asking why God laid waste to His land.
Supported by JFB
Explains the concept of God's "double" recompense for sin and destruction.
Supported by JFB