1The word of the LORD also came to me saying, 2“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” 3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land: 4“They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.”

      5For thus says the LORD, “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the LORD, “My lovingkindness and compassion. 6“Both great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them. 7“Men will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. 8“Moreover you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” 9For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

      10“Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11“Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12‘You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me. 13‘So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.’

God Will Restore Them

      14“Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

      16“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. 17“For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. 18“I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.”

19O LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
         And my refuge in the day of distress,
         To You the nations will come
         From the ends of the earth and say,
         “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,
         Futility and things of no profit.”

20Can man make gods for himself?
         Yet they are not gods!

21“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—
         This time I will make them know
         My power and My might;
         And they shall know that My name is the LORD.”

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
The word of the LORD also came to me saying,

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The LORD spoke his word to me. He said,

King James Bible
The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Darby Bible Translation
And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

English Revised Version
The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
The word of the LORD came also to me, saying,

World English Bible
The word of Yahweh came also to me, saying,

Young's Literal Translation
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

Cross References

Jeremiah 15:21 "So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent."

Jeremiah 16:2 "You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place."

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 16

In this chapter, I. The greatness of the calamity that was coming upon the Jewish nation is illustrated by prohibitions given to the prophet neither to set up a house of his own (v. 1-4) nor to go into the house of mourning (v. 5-7) nor into the house of feasting (v. 8, 9). II. God is justified in these severe proceedings against them by an account of their great wickedness (v. 10-13). III. An intimation is given of mercy in reserve (v. 14, 15). IV. Some hopes are given that the punishment of the sin should prove the reformation of the sinners, and that they should return to God at length in a way of duty, and so be qualified for his returns to them in a way of favour (v. 16-21).

Verses 1-9

The prophet is here for a sign to the people. They would not regard what he said; let it be tried whether they will regard what he does. In general, he must conduct himself so, in every thing, as became one that expected to see his country in ruins very shortly. This he foretold, but few regarded the prediction; therefore he is to show that he is himself fully satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in their usual course, but he, in the prospect of these sad times, is forbidden and therefore forbears marriage, mourning for the dead, and mirth. Note, Those that would convince others of and affect them with the word of God must make it appear, even in the most self-denying instances, that they do believe it themselves and are affected with it. If we would rouse others out of their security, and persuade them to sit loose to the world, we must ourselves be mortified to present things and show that we expect the dissolution of them.

I. Jeremiah must not marry, nor think of having a family and being a housekeeper (v. 2): Thou shalt not take thee a wife, nor think of having sons and daughters in this place, not in the land of Judah, not in Jerusalem, not in Anathoth. The Jews, more than any people, valued themselves on their early marriages and their numerous offspring. But Jeremiah must live a bachelor, not so much in honour of virginity as in diminution of it. By this it appears that it was advisable and seasonable only in calamitous times, and times of present distress, 1 Co. 7:26. That it is so is a part of the calamity. There may be a time when it will be said, Blessed is the womb that bears not, Lu. 23:29. When we see such times at hand it is wisdom for all, especially for prophets, to keep themselves as much as may be from being entangled with the affairs of this life and encumbered with that which, the dearer it is to them, the more it will be the matter of their care, and fear, and grief, at such a time. The reason here given is because the fathers and mothers, the sons and the daughters, shall die of grievous deaths, v. 3, 4. As for those that have wives and children, 1. They will have such a clog upon them that they cannot flee from those deaths. A single man may make his escape and shift for his own safety, when he that has a wife and children can neither find means to convey with them nor find in his heart to go and leave them behind him. 2. They will be in continual terror for fear of those deaths; and the more they have to lose by them the greater will the terror and consternation be when death appears every where in its triumphant pomp and power. 3. The death of every child, and the aggravating circumstances of it, will be a new death to the parent. Better have no children than have them brought forth and bred up for the murderer (Hos. 9:13, 14), than see them live and die in misery. Death is grievous, but some deaths are more grievous than others, both to those that die and to their relations that survive them; hence we read of so great a death, 2 Co. 1:10. Two things are used a little to palliate and alleviate the terror of death as to this world, and to sugar the bitter pill-bewailing the dead and burying them; but, to make those deaths grievous indeed, these are denied: They shall not be lamented, but shall be carried off, as if all the world were weary of them; nay, they shall not be buried, but left exposed, as if they were designed to be monuments of justice. They shall be a dung upon the face of the earth, not only despicable, but detestable, as if they were good for nothing but to manure the ground; being consumed, some by the sword and some by famine, their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the earth. Will not any one say, "Better be without children than live to see them come to this?" What reason have we to say,All is vanity and vexation of spirit, when those creatures that we expect to be our greatest comforts may prove not only our heaviest cares, but our sorest crosses!

II. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mourning upon occasion of the death of any of his neighbours or relations (v. 5): Enter thou not into the house of mourning. It was usual to condole with those whose relations were dead, to bemoan them, to cut themselves, and make themselves bald, which, it seems, was commonly practised as an expression of mourning, though forbidden by the law, Deu. 14:1. Nay, sometimes, in a passion of grief, they did tear themselves for them (v. 6, 7), partly in honour of the deceased, thus signifying that they thought there was a great loss of them, and partly in compassion to the surviving relations, to whom the burden will be made the lighter by their having sharers with them in their grief. They used to mourn with them, and so to comfort them for the dead, as Job's friends with him and the Jews with Martha and Mary; and it was a friendly office to give them a cup of consolation to drink, to provide cordials for them and press them earnestly to drink of them for the support of their spirits, give wine to those that are of heavy heart for their father or mother, that it may be some comfort to them to find that, though they have lost their parents, yet they have some friends left that have a concern for them. Thus the usage stood, and it was a laudable usage. It is a good work to others, as well as of good use to ourselves, to go to the house of mourning. It seems, the prophet Jeremiah had been wont to abound in good offices of this kind, and it well became his character both as a pious man and as a prophet; and one would think it should have made him better beloved among his people than it should seem he was. But now God bids him not lament the death of his friends as usual, for 1. His sorrow for the destruction of his country in general must swallow up his sorrow for particular deaths. His tears must now be turned into another channel; and there is occasion enough for them all. 2. He had little reason to lament those who died now just before the judgments entered which he saw at the door, but rather to think those happy who were seasonable taken away from the evil to come. 3. This was to be a type of what was coming, when there should be such universal confusion that all neighbourly friendly offices should be neglected. Men shall be in deaths so often, and even dying daily, that they shall have no time, no room, no heart, for the ceremonies that used to attend death. The sorrows shall be so ponderous as not to admit relief, and every one so full of grief for his own troubles that he shall have no thought of his neighbours. All shall be mourners then, and no comforters; every one will find it enough to bear his own burden; for (v. 5), "I have taken away my peace from this people, put a full period to their prosperity, deprived them of health, wealth, and quiet, and friends, and every thing wherewith they might comfort themselves and one another." Whatever peace we enjoy, it is God's peace; it is his gift, and, if he give quietness, who then can make trouble? But, if we make not a good use of his peace, he can and will take it away; and where are we then? Job 34:29. "I will take away my peace, even my loving-kindness and mercies;" these shall be shut up and restrained, which are the fresh springs from which all their fresh streams flow, and then farewell all good. Note, Those have cut themselves off from all true peace that have thrown themselves out of the favour of God. All is gone when God takes away from us his lovingkindness and his mercies. Then it follows (v. 6), Both the great and the small shall die, even in this land, the land of Canaan, that used to be called the land of the living. God's favour is our life; take away that, and we die, we perish, we all perish.

III. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mirth, any more than to the house of mourning, v. 8. It had been his custom, and it was innocent enough, when any of his friends made entertainments at their houses and invited him to them, to go and sit with them, not merely to drink, but to eat and to drink, soberly and cheerfully. But now he must not take that liberty, 1. Because it was unseasonable, and inconsistent with the providences of God in reference to that land and nation. God called aloud to weeping, and mourning, and fasting; he was coming forth against them in his judgments; and it was time for them to humble themselves; and it well became the prophet who gave them the warning to give them an example of taking the warning, and complying with it, and so to make it appear that he did himself believe it. Ministers ought to be examples of self-denial and mortification, and to show themselves affected with those terrors of the Lord with which they desire to affect others. And it becomes all the sons of Zion to sympathize with her in her afflictions, and not to be merry when she is perplexed, Amos 6:6. 2. Because he must thus show the people what sad times were coming upon them. His friends wondered that he would not meet them, as he used to do, in the house of feasting. But he lets them know it was to intimate to them that all their feasting would be at an end shortly (v. 9): "I will cause to cease the voice of mirth. You shall have nothing to feast on, nothing to rejoice in, but be surrounded with calamities that shall mar your mirth and cast a damp upon it." God can find ways to tame the most jovial. "This shall be done in this place, in Jerusalem, that used to be the joyous city and thought her joys were all secure to her. It shall be done in your eyes, in your sight, to be a vexation to you, who now look so haughty and so merry. It shall be done in your days; you yourselves shall live to see it." The voice of praise they had made to cease by their iniquities and idolatries, and therefore justly God made to cease among them the voice of mirth and gladness. The voice of God's prophets was not heard, was not heeded, among them, and therefore no longer shall the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride, of the songs that used to grace the nuptials, be heard among them. See ch. 7:34.

Calvin's Commentary

1. The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

1. Et fuit sermo Jehovae ad me, dicendo,

2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

2. Non accipies tibi uxorem, et non erunt tibi filii et filiae in hoc loco;

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;

3. Quia sic dicit Jehova super filios et super filias, qui nascentur in loco hoc, et super matres, quae pepererint illos, et super patres, qui genuerint illos in terra hac;

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.

4. Mortibus aegritudinum (vel, agrotationum) morientur, non plangentur, et non sepelientur; in stercus (id est, pro stercore) super faciem terrae erunt, et in gladio et fame consumentur (id est, per gladium et famem,) et erit cadaver eorum in cibum volucri coelorum et bestiae terrae

This is a new discourse, which yet is not unlike many others, except in this particular, that the Prophet was not to marry a wife nor beget children in the land But as to the general subject, he repeats now what he had often said before and confirmed in many places. But the prohibition to marry was full of meaning; it was to shew that the people were wholly given up to destruction. The law of man's creation, we know, was this,

"Increase and multiply." (Genesis 1:22; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 9:1, 7)

As then mankind are perpetuated by marriage, here on the contrary God shews that that land was unworthy of this common and even general blessing enjoyed by the whole race of man. It is the same as if he had said, "They indeed as yet live, but a quick destruction awaits them, for I will deprive them of the universal favor which I have hitherto shewed to all mankind."

Marriage is the preservation of the human race: Take not to thee a wife and beget no children We hence see that in the person of Jeremiah God intended to shew the Jews that they deserved to be exterminated from the earth. This is the import of this prophecy.

It may however be asked, whether the Prophet was unmarried? But this has nothing to do with the subject, for he received this command in a vision; and though he might not have been unmarried, he might still have proclaimed this prophecy, that God had forbidden him to marry and to beget children. At the same time, I think it were probable that the Prophet. was not married, for as he walked naked, and as he carried on his neck a yoke, so also his celibacy might have been intended to be, as it were, a living representation, in order to produce an effect on the Jews. But, as I have already said, we need not contend about this matter. Every one then is at liberty to judge as he pleases, only I suggest what I deem most probable.

But the reason why God forbad his Prophet to marry, follows, because they were all consigned to destruction. We hence learn that celibacy is not here commended, as some foolish men have imagined from what is here said; but it is the same as though God had said, "There is no reason for any one to set his mind on begetting an offspring, or to think that this would be to his advantage: whosoever is wise will abstain from raarriage, as he has death before his eyes, and is as it were near to his grave." The destruction then of the whole people, and the desolation and solitude of the whole land, are the things which God in these words sets forth.

At the same time, they are not threatened with a common kind of death, for he says that they were to die by the deaths of sicknesses He then denounces on them continual languor, which would cause them to pine away with the greatest pain: sudden death would have been more tolerable; and hence David says, while complaining of the prosperity of the ungodly, that there

"were no bands in their death." (Psalm 73:4)

And the same thing is found in the book of Job, that

"in a moment of time they descend to the grave,"

that is, that they flourish and prosper during life, and then die without any pain. (Job 21:13) Hence Julius Caesar, shortly before he was killed, called this kind a happy death, (euthanasian,) for he thought it a happy thing to expire suddenly. And this is what is implanted in men by nature. Therefore Jeremiah, in order to amplify God's vengeance, says that they would die by the deaths of sicknesses; [155] that is, that they would be worn out by daily pains, and pine away until they died.

He adds, They shall not be lamented nor buried We have seen elsewhere, and we shall hereafter see, (Jeremiah 22) that it is a proof of a curse when the dead are not buried, and when no one laments their death: for it is the common duty of humanity for relations and friends who survive, to mourn for the dead and to bury them. But the Prophet seems to mean also something further. I do not indeed exclude this, that God would deprive them of the honor of sepukure and of mourning; but he seems also to intimate, that the destruction of men would be so great that there would be none to perform these offices of humanity. For we lament the dead when leisure is allowed us; but when many are slain in war they are not individually lamented, and then their carcases he confused, and one grave is not sufficient for such a number. The Prophet there means, that so great would be the slaughter in Judea, that none would be buried, that none would be lamented. The verb which he uses means properly to lament, which is more than to weep: and we have said elsewhere, that in those countries there were more ceremonies than with us; for all the orientals were much given to various gesticulations; and hence they were not satisfied with tears, but they added lamentation, as though they were in despair.

But the Prophet speaks according to the customs of the age, without approving of this excess of grief. As they were wont not simply to bewail the dead, but also to shew their grief by lamentation, he says, "Their offices shall now cease, for there will not be graves enough for so many thousands: and then if any one wish to mourn, where would he begin?" We also know that men's hearts become hardened, when many thus die through pestilence or war. The import of the whole is, that God's wrath would not be moderate, for he would in a manner empty the land by driving them all away, so that there would be none remaining. God did indeed preserve the elect, though as it were by a miracle; and he afterwards preserved them in exile as in a grave, when they were removed from their own country.

He then adds, That they would be as dung on the face of the land He speaks reproachfully of their carcasses, as though he had said, "They shall be the putridity of the land." As then they had by their faith contaminated the land during life, God declares that after death they would become foetid like dung. Hence we learn, as I have before said, that it was an evidence of God's curse, when carcases were left unburied; for as God has created us in his own image, so in death he would have some evidence of the dignity and excellency with which he has favored us beyond brute animals, still to remain. We however know that temporal punishments happen even to the faithful, but they are turned to their good, for the Psalmist complains that the bodies of the godly were cast forth and became food to the birds of heaven. (Psalm 79:2) Though this is true, yet these two things are by no means inconsistent, that it is a sign of God's wrath when the dead are not buried, and that a temporal punishment does no harm to God's elect; for all evils, as it is well known, turn out to them for good.

It is added, By the sword and by famine shall they be consumed; that is, some shall perish by the sword, and some by famine, according to what, we have before seen,

"Those for the sword, to the sword; those for the famine, to the famine." (Jeremiah 15:2)

Then he mentions what we have already referred to, Their carcases shall be for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of heaven [156] He here intimates, that it would be a manifest sign of his vengeance, when the Jews pined away in their miseries, when the sword consumed some of them, and famine destroyed others, and not only so, but when another curse after death followed them, for the Lord would inflict judgment on their carcases by not allowing them to be buried. How this is to be understood I have already stated; for God's judgments as to the reprobate are evident; but when the godly and the righteous fall under similar punishment, God turns to good what seems in itself to be the sign of a curse. Though famine is a sign of a curse, and also the sword, yet we know that many of God's children perish by famine and by the sword. But in temporal punishments this modification is ever to be remembered, -- that God shews himself to be a righteous Judge as to the ungodly and wicked; -- and that while he humbles his own people, he is not yet angry with them, but consults their benefit, so that what is in itself adverse to them is turned to their advantage.

Footnotes:

[155] More literally, "By the deaths of wastings." The reference is to the famine and also to the sword. Calvin has followed the Vulgate; "by a pestilential death" is the Septuagint by the death of those who languish by famine" the Syriac; and "by a dreadful death" the Arabic. The "mortal diseases" of Blayney is not proper, for they were not "diseases" but wastings or devastations by the famine and the sword, as stated afterwards. -- Ed.

[156] I would render the fourth verse thus, -- By deaths of wastings shall they die; They shall not be lamented, nor buried; As dung on the face of the ground shall they be: Yea, by the sword and by the famine shall they be consumed, And their carcase shall be for meat To the bird of heaven and to the beast of the earth. The latter part is a fuller explanation of what was to take place. "As dung," so the Syriac; they were scattered like dung. They were to be cast here and there, to be devoured by rapacious birds and beasts. -- Ed. PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou anticipatest us by thy word, so that we may not experience thy eternal severity, -- O grant, that we may become teachable, and be so displeased with our vices, that we may not provoke more and more thy vengeance, but hasten to seek reconciliation with thee, and that relying on the Mediator whom thou hast given us, we may flee to thy mercy, until having been cleansed from all our filth, we shall at length be received into thy celestial kingdom, and there appear before thee in that parity from which we are as yet very distant, and shall enjoy that glory which thine only-begotten Son has obtained for us by his own blood. -- Amen.

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The Jews Make all Ready for the War; and Simon, the Son of Gioras, Falls to Plundering.
1. And thus were the disturbances of Galilee quieted, when, upon their ceasing to prosecute their civil dissensions, they betook themselves to make preparations for the war with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem the high priest Artanus, and do as many of the men of power as were not in the interest of the Romans, both repaired the walls, and made a great many warlike instruments, insomuch that in all parts of the city darts and all sorts of armor were upon the anvil. Although the multitude of the young …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

Degrees of Sin
Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. He that delivered me unto thee, has the greater sin.' John 19: 11. The Stoic philosophers held that all sins were equal; but this Scripture clearly holds forth that there is a gradual difference in sin; some are greater than others; some are mighty sins,' and crying sins.' Amos 5: 12; Gen 18: 21. Every sin has a voice to speak, but some …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Healing the Centurion's Servant.
(at Capernaum.) ^A Matt. VIII. 1, 5-13; ^C Luke VII. 1-10. ^c 1 After he had ended all his sayings in the ears of the people, ^a 1 And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. ^c he entered into Capernaum. [Jesus proceeded from the mountain to Capernaum, which was now his home, or headquarters. The multitudes which are now mentioned for the third time were not wearied by his sermon, and so continued to follow him. Their presence showed the popularity of Jesus, and also …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament