Jeremiah 16

1The Lord God of Israel says, 'Do not take a wife,

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2nor shall you beget either a son or a daughter in this place.'

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3For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters begotten in this place, and their mothers who gave birth to them, and their fathers who beget them in this land:

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4'They shall die by a death caused by disease, and shall not be lamented or buried; for they shall be as an example on the face of the land. They shall be for the wild beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven; and they shall fall by the sword and die of hunger.'

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5Thus says the Lord: 'Do not enter their mourning feast, nor go to lament and grieve with them; for I have removed My peace from this people.

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6They must not mourn, nor cut themselves; and they shall not shave themselves.

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7Bread shall not be broken in mourning for them as a consolation for the dead, nor shall they give one a cup to drink as a consolation for his father and mother.

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8You shall not enter their banquet-house to sit with them or to eat and drink.'

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9For thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'Behold, before your eyes and in your days, I will bring to an end from this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

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10'It shall come to pass that when you shall announce all these words to this people and they say to you, 'Why has the Lord pronounced all these evils against us? What is our wrongdoing, and what sin did we commit before the Lord our God?'

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11Then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers forsook Me,' says the Lord, 'for they went after foreign gods; and they served and worshiped them. They forsook Me, and did not keep My law.

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12But you acted in ways more evil than your fathers; for behold, you, each one of you, walk after the evil pleasures of your heart and do not obey Me.

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13Therefore I will cast you out of this land and into a land neither you nor your fathers know; and there you shall serve other gods, who will show you no mercy.'

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14'Therefore behold, days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when no more will they say, 'The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,'

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15but, 'The Lord lives who brought up the house of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where they were driven out.' For I will restore to them their land which I gave to their fathers.

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16'Behold, I will send many fishermen, and they will fish them. After this, I will send many hunters, and they will hunt them upon every mountain, upon every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

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17For My eyes are on all their ways, and their wrongdoings are not concealed from My eyes.

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18For I will repay double for their evil and their wrongdoings, whereby they desecrated My land with the carcasses of their abominations and filled My inheritance with their lawlessness.'

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19O Lord, my strength, my help, and my refuge in the day of evils, to You the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and say, 'How false were the idols our fathers acquired for themselves, and there is nothing beneficial in them.'

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20'If a man will create gods for himself,' says the Lord, 'even so, they are not gods.

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21Because of this, behold, I will show them My hand at this time and make known to them My power; and they will come to know that My name is the Lord.

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