16 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3 For thus hath the LORD said concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that would be born in this place and concerning their mothers that would bare them and concerning their fathers that would beget 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 earth; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their carcasses shall be food for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus hath the LORD said, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor comfort them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, said the LORD, even mercy and 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:
7 neither shall they break the bread of mourning for them, to comfort themselves for their death; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 In the same manner thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Behold, I will cause to cease in this place before your eyes and in your days, every voice of mirth and every voice of gladness, every voice of the bridegroom, and every voice of the bride.
10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these things, they shall say unto thee, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?
11 Then thou shalt 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 worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk each one after the imagination of his evil heart, not hearkening unto me:
13 Therefore I will cause you to be cast out of this land into a land that ye do not know, neither ye nor your fathers; and there ye shall serve other gods day and night; for I will not grant you mercy.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that it shall no longer be said, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of Egypt;
15 but, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of the north wind, and from all the lands where he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I send many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after, will I send many hunters, 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, which they have not hid from me, neither does their iniquity hide from the presence of my eyes.
18 But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their abominations, and they have filled my inheritance with abominable things.
19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the time of the affliction; Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself? But they shall not be gods.
21 Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know this time; I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.