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Jeremiah 16

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Jeremiah's Symbolic Life: A Sign of Judgment 1–9

1
The word of Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. ​
5
For thus saith Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, even lovingkindness and tender mercies. ​
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Both great and 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; ​
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neither shall men break bread 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.
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And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.
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For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before 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 10–13

10
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God? ​
11
then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; ​
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and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me: ​
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therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor. ​

Promise of Future Restoration 14–15

14
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ​
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but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. ​

God's Judgment is Comprehensive 16–18

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Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. ​
17
For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from mine eyes. ​
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And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled mine inheritance with their abominations. ​

Recognition of the True God 19–21

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O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit. ​
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Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods? ​
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Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 16

Verse 1

The word of the LORD came also unto me — The formula is that of Jer 1:4 and 2:1, 'came unto me, saying', and 'also' joins this word to what has just been said. It opens three commands that make the prophet's own life a sign to the people: no wife (v.2), no house of mourning (v.5), and no house of feasting (v.8).

Verse 2

Thou shalt not take thee a wife — The command is bound to 'this place', where children born would die, as vv.3–4 say. It is a sign of the days Christ describes when the daughters of Jerusalem are told, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare' (Luke 23:29). Ezekiel was likewise made a sign by his wife's death (Ezek 24:16–23).

Verse 4

grievous deaths — Tachalu'im, 'maladies', is rendered 'sicknesses' in Deut 29:22, where the nations ask what struck the land. The unburied are 'as dung upon the face of the earth', as in Jer 9:22 and Ps 83:10, and 'not lamented', as in Jer 25:33. The carcases become 'meat for the fowls of heaven' (15:3; Deut 28:26).

Verse 5

the house of mourning — Marzeach, a house of mourning, occurs only here. Peace, 'lovingkindness' (chesed) and 'mercies' (rachamim) are the covenant gifts joined in Hos 2:19 and Ps 103:4, and the LORD has taken them back. Ezekiel was likewise told not to mourn or weep (Ezek 24:16, 23).

Verse 6

nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald — Both marks of grief for the dead were forbidden to Israel as 'the children of the LORD your God' (Deut 14:1; Lev 19:28), yet the practice returns: men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria came 'having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves' (Jer 41:5). Here none will lament for the dead.

Verse 9

the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride — The four voices are named again in Jer 7:34 and 25:10, and in 25:10 the sound of the millstones goes with them. 'In your eyes, and in your days' places it within the lifetime of the hearers. The same four voices are restored in Jer 33:10–11 after the desolation.

Verse 10

Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil — The question and its answer in vv.10–11 are those foretold in Deut 29:24–25 and 1 Kgs 9:8–9, where passers-by ask the same thing of the land and the answer is 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD'. The people ask what their 'iniquity' (avon) and 'sin' (chattath) are.

Verse 11

Because your fathers have forsaken me — The verbs run in the order of Deut 8:19: 'walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them'. 'Forsaken' stands twice, the forsaking of the LORD at both ends of the list; the end of it is 'have not kept my law' (torah). The same answer is given in Jer 5:19.

Verse 12

ye have done worse than your fathers — The charge is that of Jer 7:26, 'they did worse than their fathers'. 'Imagination' is sheriruth, stubbornness, found ten times in the Bible, all but Deut 29:19 and Ps 81:12 in Jeremiah, where it goes with the heart (Jer 3:17; 7:24; 13:10; 18:12).

Verse 13

a land that ye know not — The threat is Moses': 'a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods' (Deut 28:36; 4:28). 'Cast out' is tul, to hurl, as of a javelin (1 Sam 18:11). 'Favour' is chaninah, found only here in the Bible.

Verse 14

The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel — The oath 'The LORD liveth' (cf. Jer 12:16) was sworn by the exodus: 'I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (Ex 20:2). The word of this verse and the next is given again in Jer 23:7–8, with the same turn from Egypt to the north country.

Verse 15

from the land of the north — The oath will be sworn by a second deliverance: out of 'the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them'. 'Bring them again' (shuv) is the verb of Jer 24:6, 'I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down'.

Verse 16

many fishers… many hunters — Dayyag, fisher, and tsayyad, hunter, speak of capture in two stages, the fishers first and then the hunters. The hunted are searched out in 'the holes of the rocks' (nekiq), the word of the 'hole of the rock' in 13:4. Amos 4:2 has the same figure of 'fishhooks'. In both the LORD acts ('I will send for' here, 'he will take you away' in Amos).

Verse 17

mine eyes are upon all their ways — Two verbs say that nothing is hid: sathar, 'not hid from my face', and tsaphan, 'neither is their iniquity hid'. The same truth is stated in Prov 5:21, 'the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD', and Jer 23:24, 'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?'

Verse 18

recompense their iniquity and their sin double — 'Double' is mishneh, a second portion. 'Detestable' is shiqquts, the 'abominations' of 13:27. The land is 'defiled' as Num 35:33 says blood defiles it, and the idols are called 'carcases', as in Lev 26:30, 'the carcases of your idols'. Isa 40:2 later says Jerusalem 'hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins'.

Verse 19

the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth — The prophet's confidence in the LORD as 'strength… fortress… refuge' leads to the nations coming to him, as in Isa 2:2–3 and Jer 3:17. What they say, that their fathers 'inherited lies', uses sheqer (13:25) and hebel (14:22), and 'profit' is the verb of 12:13 and 2:11.

Verse 20

Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? — The question is the argument of Ps 115:4–8, 'Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands', and of Jer 2:11, 'Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?' Paul says the same of the Galatians' past: they served those 'which by nature are no gods' (Gal 4:8).

Verse 21

my name is The LORD — The divine name is the one given in Ex 6:3, 'by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them', and Ps 83:18. 'Cause them to know' (yada) is used three times, ending with 'they shall know that my name is The LORD'. 'This once' (paam) is 'this time', and what they are made to know is 'mine hand and my might'.