CHAPTER 16
For
this is what
the LORD
says
concerning
sons
and daughters
born in this
place,
and
the mothers
who bore them,
and the fathers
who fathered
them in this
land:
“They will die
from deadly
diseases.
They will not
be mourned
or buried,
but will lie
like dung
on
the ground.
They will be finished off
by sword
and famine,
and their corpses
will become
food
for the birds
of the sky
and the beasts
of the earth."
Indeed,
this is what
the LORD
says:
“Do not
enter
a house
where there is a funeral meal.
Do not
go
to mourn
or show sympathy,
for
I have removed
My peace
from this
people,
declares
the LORD,
My loving devotion
and
compassion.
Both great
and small
will die
in this
land.
They will not
be buried
or
mourned,
nor
will anyone cut
himself or shave his head
for them.
No food
will be offered
to comfort
those who mourn
the dead;
not even
a cup
of consolation
will be given
for
the loss of a father
or mother.
For
this is what
the LORD
of Hosts,
the God
of Israel,
says:
I am going to remove
from
this
place,
before your very eyes
and in your days,
the sounds
of joy
and gladness,
the voices
of the groom
and the bride.
When
you tell
these
people
all
these
things,
they will ask
you,
‘Why
has the LORD
pronounced
all
this
great
disaster
against us?
What
is our guilt?
What
is the sin
that
we have committed
against the LORD
our God?'
Then you are to answer them:
‘It is because
your fathers
have forsaken
Me,’
declares
the LORD,
‘and followed
other
gods,
and served
and worshiped them.
They abandoned Me
and did not
keep
My instruction.
And you
have done
more evil
than your fathers.
See how
each of you
was following
the stubbornness
of his evil
heart,
instead of
obeying
Me.
So I will cast
you
out of
this
land
into
a land
that
neither
you
nor your fathers
have known.
There
you will serve
other
gods
day
and night,
for
I will show
you
no
favor.'
Yet
behold,
the days
are coming,
declares
the LORD,
when men will no
longer
say,
‘As surely as the LORD
lives,
who
brought
the Israelites up
out of the land
of Egypt.’
Instead they will say,
‘As surely as the LORD
lives,
who
brought
the Israelites up
out of the land
of the north
and all
the other lands
to which
He had banished them.’
For I will return
them to
their land
that
I gave
to their ancestors.
But for now
I will send for
many
fishermen,
declares
the LORD,
and they will catch them.
After that
I will send
for many
hunters,
and they will hunt them down
on
every
mountain
and hill,
even from the clefts
of the rocks.
For
My eyes
are on
all
their ways.
They are not
hidden
from My face,
and their guilt
is not
concealed
from
My eyes.
And I will first
repay them
double
their iniquity
and their sin,
because
they have defiled
My land
with the carcasses
of their detestable idols,
and they have filled
My inheritance
with their abominations.”
O LORD,
my strength
and my fortress,
my refuge
in the day
of distress,
the nations
will come
to You
from the ends
of the earth,
and they will say,
“Our fathers
inherited
nothing but
lies,
worthless idols
of no
benefit at all.”
“Therefore
behold,
I will inform them,
and this
time
I will make them know
My power
and My might;
then they will know
that
My name
is the LORD.”