Jeremiah 16:1–9

Famine, Sword, and Death

16The word of the Lord came to me: ²“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. ³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: ^4jThey shall die of deadly diseases. ^kThey shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. ^lThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^mThey shall perish by the sword and by famine, ⁿand their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

⁵“For thus says the Lord: ^oDo not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land. ^kThey shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or ^pcut himself ^qor make himself bald for them. ⁷No one shall ^rbreak bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. ⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. ⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^sBehold, I will silence in 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.