T F¹ 1-9. Symbol. No wife. F² 10-21. Signification.
F¹ y¹ 1,2. Prohibition. Not to marry.
x¹ 3,4. Reason.
y² 5-. Prohibition. Not to marry.
x² -5-7. Reason.
y³ 8. Prohibition. Not to feast.
x³ 9. Reason.497-480 B.C.
Jeremiah 16)
1: The word of the Lord came also to me, saying,
2: “You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters in this place.
3: For thus says 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;
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 ground (or, soil): and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
5: For thus says the Lord, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them:
for I have taken away My peace (or, blessing) from this people, [is] the Lord's oracle, even loving-kindness and tender mercies (or compassion).
6: Both the great and the 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: (see Lev. 19:28; 21:5. Deut. 14:1. Cp. 41:5; 47:5)
7: Neither shall men break bread for them in mourning (see Isa.58:7. Ezek.24:7. Hos.9:4), to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8: You shall not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9: For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in 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. (cp. 7:34; 25:10; 33:11)
F² a 10-13. Threatening. Expulsion.
b 14,15. Promise. Restoration. (Israel).
a 16-18. Threatening. Pursuit.
b 19-21. Promise. Restoration. (Nations).
10: And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this People all these words, and they shall say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced (see Deut. 29:24,25) all this great mischief (or, calamity) against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’
11: Then shall you say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me, [is] the Lord's oracle , and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law; (see Ex. 20)
12: And you all have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you all walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, that they may not listen (and hear) Me:
13: Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that you all know not, neither you all nor your fathers; and there shall you all serve other gods day and night (see Deut. 4:26-28); where I will not show you favor.
14: Therefore, behold, the days come, [is] the Lord oracle, that it shall no more be said, the Lord lives, that brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt’ (see Ex. 12-15);
15: But, ‘The LORD lives, that brought up the son of Israel from the land of the north (Babylon on the east; but entrance from there into the Land was by the north), and from all the lands wherever He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.
16: Behold, I will send for many fishers, [is] the Lord's oracle, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters (refers to Judah's enemies. Cp. v.18. Amos 4:2. Ezek. 12:13. Hab. 1:14), and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17: For My eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from My eyes.
18: And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double (see Isa.40:2); because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.’ ”
19: (O Lord, my strength (for protection), and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth, and shall say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.)
20: Shall a mankind make gods to himself, and they are no gods?
21: Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the Lord.” (see Ex. 3:15; 15:3)