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Chapter 16 |
| 1 | The word of
the LORD came also unto me, saying, |
| 2 | Thou shalt not take thee a
wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. |
| 3 | For
thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are
born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning
their fathers that begat them in this land; |
|
4 | 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 carcases shall be meat for the fowls of
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. |
|
5 | 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. |
|
6 | 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 bald for them: |
| 7 | 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. |
|
8 | Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting,
to sit with them to eat and to drink. |
| 9 | 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. |
| 10 | And it shall
come to pass, when thou shalt shew 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? |
| 11 | 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; |
|
12 | 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: |
|
13 | 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; where I will not shew you favour. |
| 14 |
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; |
| 15
| 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 unto their
fathers. |
| 16
| 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. |
| 17
| For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid
from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. |
| 18 | And
first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have
defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their
detestable and abominable things. |
| 19 | 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. |
| 20 |
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? |
| 21 |
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. |
