Bible History
Bible History

Jeremiah 16 - New English Translation (NET)

You are here: Home New English Translation (NET) Jeremiah 16

Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry, to Mourn, or to Feast

16 The Lord’s message came to me, 2 “Do not get married and do not have children here in this land. 3 For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to[a] the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers.[b] 4 They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals.

5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you:[c] ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor,[d] my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it![e] 6 Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them.[f] 7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

8 “‘Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either. 9 For I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, tell you what will happen.[g] I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.’[h]

The Lord Promises Exile But Also Restoration

10 “When you tell these people about all this,[i] they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’ 11 Then tell them that the Lord says,[j] ‘It is because your ancestors[k] rejected me and paid allegiance to[l] other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law.[m] 12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me.[n] 13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”

14 Yet[o] I, the Lord, say:[p] “A new time will certainly come.[q] People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ 15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.”[r]

16 But for now I, the Lord, say:[s] “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.[t] 17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it.[u] 18 Before I restore them[v] I will punish them in full[w] for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own[x] with their detestable idols.”[y]

19 Then I said,[z]

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.
You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble.[aa]
Nations from all over the earth
will come to you and say,
‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods—
worthless idols that could not help them at all.’[ab]
20 Can people make their own gods?
No, what they make are not gods at all.”[ac]

21 The Lord said,[ad]

“So I will now let this wicked people know—
I will let them know my mighty power in judgment.
Then they will know that my name is the Lord.[ae]

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 16:3 tn Heb “For thus says the Lord concerning…”
  2. Jeremiah 16:3 tn Heb “Thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in the place and concerning their mothers who give them birth and their fathers who fathered them in this land.”
  3. Jeremiah 16:5 tn Heb “For thus says the Lord…”
  4. Jeremiah 16:5 tn Heb “my peace.” The Hebrew word שְׁלוֹמִי (shelomi) can be translated “peace, prosperity” or “well-being” (referring to wholeness or health of body and soul).
  5. Jeremiah 16:5 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
  6. Jeremiah 16:6 sn These were apparently pagan customs associated with mourning (Isa 15:2; Jer 47:5) that were forbidden in Israel (Lev 19:28; 21:5) but apparently practiced anyway (Jer 41:5).
  7. Jeremiah 16:9 tn Heb “For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.” The introductory formula, which appears three times in vv. 1-9 (vv. 1, 3, 5), has been recast for smoother English style.sn For the title “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,” see 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.
  8. Jeremiah 16:9 tn Heb “before your eyes and in your days.” The pronouns are plural, including others than Jeremiah.
  9. Jeremiah 16:10 tn Heb “all these words/things.”sn The actions of the prophet would undoubtedly elicit questions about his behavior, and he would have occasion to explain the reason.
  10. Jeremiah 16:11 tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’),” which occurs after, “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read, “When you tell them these things, and they say, ‘…,’ then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”
  11. Jeremiah 16:11 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).
  12. Jeremiah 16:11 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.
  13. Jeremiah 16:11 tn Heb “But me they have abandoned, and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast, which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.
  14. Jeremiah 16:12 sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.
  15. Jeremiah 16:14 tn The particle translated here as “Yet” (לָכֵן, lakhen) is regularly translated “So” or “Therefore” and introduces a consequence. However, in a few cases it introduces a contrasting set of conditions. Cf. Judg 11:8; Jer 48:12; 49:2; 51:52; Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT).
  16. Jeremiah 16:14 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift that might create confusion.
  17. Jeremiah 16:14 tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming.”
  18. Jeremiah 16:15 tn These two verses, which constitute one long sentence with compound, complex subordinations, has been broken up for sake of English style. It reads, “Therefore, behold the days are coming,” says the Lord [Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’], “and it will not be said any longer, ‘By the life of the Lord who…Egypt,’ but, ‘by the life of the Lord who…,’ and I will bring them back….”
  19. Jeremiah 16:16 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift that might create confusion.
  20. Jeremiah 16:16 tn Heb “Behold, I am about to send for many fishermen, and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”sn The picture of rounding up the population for destruction and exile is also seen in Amos 4:2 and Hab 1:14-17.
  21. Jeremiah 16:17 tn Heb “For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from before me. And their sin is not hidden away from before my eyes.”
  22. Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “First.” Many English versions and commentaries delete this word because it is missing from the Greek version and is considered a gloss added by a postexilic editor who is said to be responsible also for vv. 14-16. However, the reading of the MT is well attested, being supported by the other ancient versions. The word here refers to order in rank or order of events. Compare Gen 38:28 and 1 Kgs 18:25. Here allusion is made to the restoration previously mentioned. First in order of events is the punishment of destruction and exile, then restoration.
  23. Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “double.” However, usage in Deut 15:18 and probably Isa 40:2 argues for “full compensation.” This is supported also by usage in a tablet from Alalakh in Syria. See P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 218, for bibliography.
  24. Jeremiah 16:18 tn Heb “my inheritance.”sn For earlier references to the term used here see Jer 2:7, where it applies as here to the land, Jer 10:16 and 12:8-9, where it applies to the people, and Jer 12:7, where it applies to the temple.
  25. Jeremiah 16:18 tn Many of the English versions take “lifeless statues of their detestable idols” with “filled” as a compound object. This follows the Masoretic punctuation but violates usage. The verb “fill” never takes an object preceded by the preposition בְּ (bet).
  26. Jeremiah 16:19 tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.sn The shift here is consistent with the interruptions that have taken place in chapters 14 and 15 and in Jeremiah’s response to God’s condemnation of the people of Judah’s idolatry in chapter 10 (note especially vv. 6-16).
  27. Jeremiah 16:19 tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble.” The literal reading, which piles up attributes, is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.
  28. Jeremiah 16:19 tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”sn This passage offers some rather forceful contrasts. The Lord is Jeremiah’s source of strength, security, and protection. The idols are false gods, worthless idols, that can offer no help at all.
  29. Jeremiah 16:20 tn Heb “and they are ‘no gods.’” For the construction here compare 2:11 and a similar construction in 2 Kgs 19:18, and see BDB 519 s.v. לֹא 1.b(b).
  30. Jeremiah 16:21 tn The words “The Lord said” are not in the text. However, it is obvious that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  31. Jeremiah 16:21 tn Or “So I will make known to those nations, I will make known to them at this time my power and my might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.” There is a decided ambiguity in this text about the identity of the pronoun “them.” Is it his wicked people he has been predicting judgment upon or the nations that have come to recognize the folly of idolatry? The nearer antecedent would argue for the latter. However, usage of “hand” (translated here “power”) in 6:12; 15:6; and later in 21:5, and especially the threatening motif of “at this time” (or “now”) in 10:18, suggest that the “So” goes back logically to vv. 16-18, following a grounds of judgment with the threatened consequence, as it has in at least 16 out of 18 occurrences thus far. Moreover, it makes decidedly more sense that the Jews will know that his name is the Lord as the result of the present (“at this time”) display of his power in judgment than that the idolaters will at some later (cf. Isa 2:2-4 for possible parallel) time. There has been a decided emphasis that the people of Israel do not “know” him (cf. 2:8; 4:22; 9:3, 6). Now they will, but in a way they did not wish to. There is probably an allusion (and an ironic reversal) here to Exod 3:13-15; 34:5-7. They have presumed upon his graciousness and forgotten that his name not only involves being with them to help but being against them to punish sin. Even if the alternate translation is followed, the reference is still to God’s mighty power made known in judging the wicked Judeans. The words “power” and “might” are an example of hendiadys, in which two nouns joined by “and” function as a unit.

You Might Also Like:

Jeremiah 16 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

16 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: 2 Thou dost not take to thee a wife, Nor hast thou sons and daughters in this place. 3 For thus said Jehovah, Of the sons and of the daughters who are born in this place, And of their mothers -- those bearing them, And of their fathers -- those bege...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

16 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said, 2 Thou shalt not take a wife, and sons and daughters shall not be to thee in this place. 3 For the Lord saith these things on sons and daughters, that be engendered in this place, and on the mothers of them, that engendered them, and on the fathe...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - World English Bible (WEB)

16 Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.” 3 For Yahweh says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers ...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - The Voice (VOICE)

16 The word of the Eternal came to me. The loneliness Jeremiah has already endured is indeed painful. Surely he wants just one companion in whom he can confide; even that would be something. If only he could find solace in a loving spouse! Certainly society is composed of husbands and wives; even th...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Jeremiah’s Way of Living16 The word of Adonai came to me, saying: 2 “You will not take a wife for yourself or have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says Adonai about the sons and daughters born in this place, and about their mothers who give birth to them and about their fathers who fa...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who b...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who b...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who be...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message16 The word of the Lord came to me:(A)2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.(B)3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who f...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New Living Translation (NLT)

Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry16 The Lord gave me another message. He said, 2 “Do not get married or have children in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: 4 They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New Life Version (NLV)

16 The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Do not get married or have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land, and about their mothers who give birth to them, and their fathers who gave them life in this land: 4 “They w...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Jeremiah’s Lifestyle and Message16 The 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.” 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and ...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Day of disaster16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 ‘You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.’ 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: 4 ‘They will die of...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New International Version (NIV)

Day of Disaster16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You must not marry(A) and have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:(B) 4 “They will die...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

Times of Trouble Are Coming16 A message from the Lord came to me. He said, 2 “Jeremiah, you must not get married. You must not have any sons or daughters in this land.” 3 Here is the Lord’s message about the children born in this place. He says about them and their parents, 4 “Some of them will d...
Read More

Jeremiah 16 - New Century Version (NCV)

The Day of Disaster16 Then the Lord spoke his word to me: 2 “You must not get married or have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 The Lord says this about the sons and daughters born in this land and their mothers and fathers: 4 “They will die of terrible diseases, and no one will cry for them or ...
Read More

61 Bible Translations

Popular Articles

Explore the Bible Like Never Before!

Bible History Online

Bible Study Tools

Top Tags