Old Testament Commentary - Jeremiah 16

by Don R. Hender


Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
           CHAPTER 16            

Utter ruin of the Jews foreseen—Israel rejected and scattered for serving false gods—Fishers and hunters shall gather them again, and they shall serve the Lord—Gospel to be restored for last time.

  1 THE word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
  2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this placea.
 2a in this place Some consider that Jeremiah was forbiden to marry and have children, but that is not what is stated. What is stated is that he is not to have a wife and children in the confines of 'Jerusalem'. Jeremiah's prophetical roll kept him in Jerusalem most of the time and he would have been tempted to mover his family to the Jerusalem center. But God warned him against doing that, to not have them 'in this place'. But even if God was telling Jeremiah not to 'ever' marry during his life time, there is always that time when all are promised to have such blessing available to them such as children who die before opportunity to marry or others for whatever cause are not able to do so; even if it is just because they are not able to find a worthy mate. And that time is the 1000 year millennium, when all such things may be resolved, even that situation of boys who do not like girls and girls that do not like boys, if they will so keep themselves sexually pure.
  3 For thus saith 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 alamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be bconsumed by the sword, and by famine; and their ccarcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
  5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of amourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
  6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, anor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
  7 Neither shall men atear themselves 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.
  8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
  9 For thus saith 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 amirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
  10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, aWherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
  11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
  12 And ye have done aworse than your bfathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the cimagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
  13 Therefore will I acast you out of this bland into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other cgods day and night; where I will not dshew you favour.
  14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The aLORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
  15 But, The LORD liveth, that abrought up the children of Israel from the land of the bnorth, and from all the clands whither he had driven them: and I will bbring them again into their eland that I gave unto their fathers.
  16 ¶ Behold, I will send for many afishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
  17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their ainiquity hid from mine eyes.
  18 And first I will arecompense their iniquity and their sin bdouble; because they have cdefiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
  19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the aGentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have binherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
  20 Shall a man make agods unto himself, and they are no bgods?
  21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall aknow that my bname is The LORD.