| 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. |
