CHAPTER 16

1 Then came the word of Jehovah to me, saying, —

2 Take not to thee a wife, And have no sons and daughters in this place:

3 For thus saith Jehovah, — As to the sons and daughters, born in this place, And as to the mothers who shall bear them, And as to the fathers, who shall beget them in this land —

4 With deaths of sicknesses shall they die, They shall not be lamented nor buried; As dung on the face of the earth shall they be; With the sword also and the famine shall they be consumed, And their carcasses shall be for meat To the birds of heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. (2:305)

5 For thus saith Jehovah, — Enter not the house of mourning Nor go to lament, nor be moved for them; For I have taken away my peace From this people, saith Jehovah, My kindness also and mercies:

6 And die shall they, great and small, in this land; They shall not be buried, Nor shall any lament for them nor cut themselves, Nor shall baldness be made for them;

7 And they shall not for them smite the hand, To console them for the dead; Nor shall they drink to them the cup of consolations, For their father or for their mother. (2:310)

8 The house of feasting also enter not, To sit with them to eat and to drink;

9 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, — Behold, I will take away from this place Before your eyes and in your days, The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 And it shall be, when thou declarest to this people All these words, that they will say to thee, — “Why has Jehovah spoken against us All this great evil? And what is our iniquity? and what is our sin? Which we have wickedly done against Jehovah, our God.”

11 Then thou shalt say to them, — Because your fathers forsook me, saith Jehovah: For they went after foreign gods, And served them and bowed down to them, And me they forsook, and my law they did not keep;

12 And worse are ye become than your fathers; For, behold, ye have walked, every one of you, After the wickedness of his own evil heart, So as not to hearken to me.

13 I will therefore cast you out of this land, Into a land which ye have not known, nor your fathers, And there shall ye serve foreign gods, day and night; For I will shew you no favor.

14 Therefore, behold, the days will come, saith Jehovah, When it shall be no more said, Live does Jehovah, Who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt:

15 But, Live does Jehovah, who has brought up The children of Israel, from the land of the north, And from all the lands to which he had driven them; For I will restore them to the land Which I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah; And they shall fish them; And afterwards I will send for many hunters, And they shall hunt them from every mountain, And from every hill and holes of rocks:

17 For mine eyes are on all their ways; They are not hid from my face, Nor are their iniquities hid from mine eyes:

18 And I will render double, from the beginning, For their iniquities and their sins; For they have polluted my land With the carcasses of their abominations; And with their defilements Have they filled mine inheritance. (2:325)

19 O Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, And my refuge in the day of distress, To thee shall come the Gentiles From the extremities of the earth, and shall say, — “Surely falsehood did our fathers inherit; Vanity and nothing profitable had they.”

20 Can men make gods for themselves, When they themselves are no gods? (2:333)

21 Therefore, behold, I will make them to know at this time, I will make them to know My hand and my power; And they shall know that my name is Jehovah.