Jeremiah 16

Berean Standard Bible (BSB) · English

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and the mothers who bore them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.” 5 Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD. 6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. 7 No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother. 8 You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink. 9 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom. 10 When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction. 12 And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me. 13 So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’ 14 Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ 15 Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. 16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes. 18 And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.” 19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all. 20 Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!” 21 “Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.

Commentary — not Bible text

Jeremiah 16:1

Introduction

On account of the evils which threatened his country, the prophet is forbidden to encumber himself with a wife and family, or to bear any share in the little joys and sorrows of his neighbors, which were to be forgotten and absorbed in those public calamities, Jer 16:1-9, which their sins should draw on them, Jer 16:10-13. A future restoration however is intimated, Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15, after these calamities should be endured, Jer 16:16-18; and the conversion of the Gentiles is foretold, Jer 16:19-21.

Verse 1

The word of the Lord came also unto me - This discourse Dahler supposes to have been delivered some time in the reign of Jehoiakim.

Jeremiah 16:2-3

Verse 2

Those shalt not take thee a wife - As it would be very inconvenient to have a family when the threatened desolations should come on the place. The reason is given in the following verses.

Jeremiah 16:4

Verse 4

They shall die of grievous deaths - All prematurely; see Jer 14:16.

As dung upon the face of the earth - See Jer 8:2.

Be meat for the fowls - See Jer 7:33.

Jeremiah 16:5

Verse 5

Enter not into the house of mourning - The public calamities are too great to permit individual losses to come into consideration.

Jeremiah 16:6-7

Verse 6

Nor cut themselves - A custom of the heathen forbidden to the Jews, Lev 19:28; Deu 14:1, and which appears now to have prevailed among them; because, having become idolaters, they conformed to all the customs of the heathen. They tore their hair, rent their garments, cut their hands, arms, and faces. These were not only signs of sorrow but were even supposed to give ease to the dead, and appease the angry deities. The Hindoos, on the death of a relation, express their grief by loud lamentations, and not unfrequently bruise themselves in an agony of grief with whatever they can lay hold on.

Jeremiah 16:8-11

Verse 8

Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting - Funeral banquets were made to commemorate the dead, and comfort the surviving relatives; and the cup of consolation, strong mingled wine, was given to those who were deepest in distress, to divert their minds and to soothe their sorrows. These kinds of ceremonies were common among almost all the nations of the world on funeral occasions. The Canaanites, the Jews, the Persians, Arabians, New Zealanders, Huns, etc., etc.

Jeremiah 16:12

Verse 12

And ye have done worse than your fathers - The sins of the fathers would not have been visited on the children, had they not followed their example, and become even worse than they.

Jeremiah 16:13

Verse 13

Will I cast you out of this land - See Jer 7:15, and Jer 9:15.

Jeremiah 16:14

Verse 14

The Lord liveth, that brought up - See Isa 43:18.

Jeremiah 16:15

Verse 15

The land of the north - Chaldea: and their deliverance thence will be as remarkable as the deliverance of their fathers from the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 16:16-17

Verse 16

I will send for many fishers - for many hunters - I shall raise up enemies against them some of whom shall destroy them by wiles, and others shall ruin them by violence. This seems to be the meaning of these symbolical fishers and hunters.

Jeremiah 16:18

Verse 18

The carcasses of their detestable - things - Either meaning the idols themselves, which were only carcasses without life; or the sacrifices which were made to them.

Jeremiah 16:19

Verse 19

The Gentiles shall come - Even the days shall come when the Gentiles themselves, ashamed of their confidence, shall renounce their idols, and acknowledge that their fathers had believed lies, and worshipped vanities. This may be a prediction of the calling of the Gentiles by the Gospel of Christ; if so, it is a light amidst much darkness. In such dismal accounts there is need of some gracious promise relative to an amended state of the world.

Jeremiah 16:20

Verse 20

Shall a man make gods unto himself? - Can any be so silly, and so preposterously absurd? Yes, fallen man is capable of any thing that is base, mean, vile, and wicked, till influenced and converted by the grace of Christ.

Jeremiah 16:21

Verse 21

Therefore, behold, I will this once - I will not now change my purpose. They shall be visited and carried into captivity; nothing shall prevent this: and they shall know that my name is Jehovah. Since they would not receive the abundance of my mercies, they shall know what the true God can do in the way of judgment.

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