Jeremiah 16:1-13 - Jeremiah Is Commanded Not To Marry

¹ This message from the LORD came to me: ² "You are not to take a wife, nor are you to have sons or daughters in this place." ³ For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters who are born in this place, about their mothers who give birth to them, and about their fathers who father them in this land: ⁴ "They'll die of deadly diseases. People won't mourn for them, nor will they be buried. They'll be dung on the surface of the ground, and they'll come to an end with the sword and with famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land."

⁵ For this is what the LORD says: "Don't go to a house where there is mourning, don't go to lament, nor to express sorrow to them. For I've taken my peace away from this people," declares the LORD, "as well as gracious love and compassion. ⁶ Both the most and the least important people will die in this land, and they won't be buried. People won't mourn for them. They won't cut themselves, nor will they shave their heads for them. ⁷ They won't break bread for the mourner to be consoled for the dead. They won't give anyone the cup of consolation to drink for his father or mother. ⁸ Don't go to a banquet to sit with people to eat and drink." ⁹ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "In this place I'm about to bring an end to the sounds of happiness and rejoicing, the sounds of the bridegroom and the bride. I'll do it in front of your eyes and in your time.

¹⁰ "When you speak all these words to this people, they'll say to you, "Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' ¹¹ Then say to them, "It is because your ancestors abandoned me,' declares the LORD. "They followed other gods, served them, worshipped them, abandoned me, and didn't keep my Law. ¹² You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires, refusing to listen to me. ¹³ I'll throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I'll show you no favor.'