Bible Chapter Summary
Jeremiah 16 Summary
Jeremiah's Celibacy and Signs of Judgment
God commands Jeremiah not to marry or father children in this place, for sons and daughters born there shall die grievous deaths, unburied and unlamented, becoming dung on the earth, consumed by sword and famine. Jeremiah is forbidden to enter houses of mourning, fasting, or feasting, for God has taken His peace and lovingkindness from Judah. Voice of mirth, bridegroom, and bride shall cease. The people ask why God has pronounced such evil; Jeremiah tells them their fathers forsook the LORD and walked after other gods, and they have done worse. Therefore they will be cast into a land they know not to serve other gods. Yet in future days, God will restore them from the north, sending fishers and hunters to bring them back, for His eyes are on all their ways.
Key themes
Key verses
Jeremiah 16:2
“Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.”
Jeremiah 16:9
“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 mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”
Jeremiah 16:11
“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;”
Jeremiah 16:15
“But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”
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