CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Jeremiah 16
Chapter 16 of 52
Chapter Overview
What happens in Jeremiah 16
God tells Jeremiah not to marry or have children, because those born in the land will die terrible deaths. He must not go to funerals or celebrations. God explains why this judgment is coming, but he also promises a future return that will be even greater than the exodus from Egypt.
Scripture
Jeremiah 16
Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry
Study note
God tells Jeremiah not to take a wife or have children. This command is a living sign of the coming disaster. Sons and daughters born in Judah will die terrible deaths from disease and war, and no one will mourn for them.
1 The Lord gave me another message: The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
2 "You must not get married or have any children in this place." Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3 Because here is what the Lord says about the children born in this land, and about the mothers and fathers who have them: 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 will die from terrible diseases. Nobody will mourn for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like manure. War and starvation will destroy them, and their corpses will feed the birds and wild animals." 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.
No Mourning and No Celebrating
Study note
God tells Jeremiah not to go to funerals or feasts. He has taken his peace, his love, and his mercy away from the people. Both great and small will die without proper burial or mourning. The sounds of joy and celebration will end.
5 The Lord also says, "Don't go into a house where people are mourning a death. Don't go to grieve or comfort them, because I have taken away my peace from this people," says the Lord, "and my love and my mercy." 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 "Important people and ordinary people alike will die in this land. Nobody will bury them. Nobody will mourn for them or perform any grief rituals for them." 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 "Nobody will offer food to comfort the grieving. Nobody will give a cup of comfort to those mourning a father or mother." 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 "And don't go into a house where people are having a party, to sit with them and eat and drink." Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9 The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says, "Right before your eyes, in your own lifetime, I will put a stop to every sound of celebration and happiness here. You will never again hear the joyful voices of brides and grooms." 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.
The Reason for Judgment
Study note
When the people ask why God has declared such great disaster, Jeremiah must explain that their ancestors abandoned God and followed other gods. Even worse, the current generation has outdone their ancestors in wickedness.
10 "When you tell the people all of this and they ask you, 'Why has the Lord ordered all this terrible punishment for us? What did we do wrong? How did we sin against the Lord our God?'" 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 "answer them, 'It's because your ancestors abandoned me,' says the Lord. 'They ran after other gods, worshipped them, and served them. They turned their backs on me and did not keep my law.'" 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 you have behaved even worse than your ancestors! Each of you stubbornly follows your own evil desires instead of listening to me." 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 "So I will throw you out of this land into a country that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you will serve other gods day and night, because I will not show you any mercy." 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.
A Greater Exodus to Come
Study note
Despite the coming judgment, God promises a future restoration so great that people will no longer talk about the exodus from Egypt. Instead, they will talk about God bringing them back from the north and from all the lands where he scattered them. But first, judgment must come.
14 "But a time is coming," says the Lord. "People will stop saying, 'As the Lord lives, who brought Israel out of Egypt.'" 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 "Instead they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, the one who brought Israel back from the northern lands and from all the other countries where he had scattered them.' I will bring them home to the land I originally gave their ancestors." 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 "But for now, I am sending for many fishermen," says the Lord, "and they will catch my people. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will track them down on every mountain, every hill, and in every crack in the rocks." 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 "My eyes see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me. Their sin is not invisible to me." For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
18 "First, I will pay them back double for their wickedness and sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled the territory I gave them with the lifeless forms of their disgusting idols." 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.
The Nations Will Know the Lord
Study note
Jeremiah praises God as his strength and fortress. He foresees a day when nations will come from the ends of the earth and admit that their ancestors worshipped worthless idols. God will make them know his power and his name.
19 Lord, you are my strength and my fortress, my safe place when trouble comes. Someday, nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies — useless idols that never helped them at all." 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 Can human beings manufacture their own gods? Of course — but those things are not real gods! Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21 "So I will teach them a lesson this time. I will make them feel my power and my strength. Then they will know that my name is the Lord." 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Jeremiah 16
Prophetic lifestyle as a signThe cost of obedience to God's callingFuture restoration beyond judgmentA new exodus greater than the firstGod's omniscience seeing all hidden sin
Apply This Today
Living Jeremiah 16
Sometimes God calls people to make extraordinary personal sacrifices as living messages to the world. Even in the darkest warnings of judgment, God weaves in promises of future restoration. No sin is hidden from God, but His ultimate purpose is always redemption, not destruction.
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