Jeremiah

A Prophetic Life

The word of the Lord came to me:

“Do not marry or have sons and daughters in this place,

for this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born here, and about fathers and mothers who bring them into existence in this country:

All will die from deadly diseases, from deadly diseases, and no one will mourn or bury them; their bodies will be like refuse on the ground. They will be killed by the sword and hunger, and their corpses will be eaten by birds and wild animals.”

The Lord further insisted: “Do not go into a house of mourning; neither weep nor loudly lament with the bereaved for I have already withdrawn my peace from these people, even my unwavering love and compassion.

Both the great and the lowly in this country will die, and no one will mourn or bury them. No one will cut their skin or shave their head as a sign of mourning.

No funeral meal shall be shared to comfort or console the bereaved on the death of their fathers and mothers.

Do not go to a house of celebration to feast with them before food and drinks,

for the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, has this to say: In this place and before your very eyes, I will silence every sound of pleasure and joy, even the newlywed’s song.

When you announce all these things to the people, they will ask you: ‘Why has the Lord decided to bring such terrible disasters on us? What wickedness or sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’

Then you shall tell them: ‘It is because your ancestors turned away from me and went after other gods to serve and worship them. They have forsaken me and refused to obey my law.

But you are worse than your ancestors because each of you has chosen his own wicked ways, following his stubborn heart in outright defiance of me.

Therefore, I will exile you from this land to a place unfamiliar to you and your ancestors. There, you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.’”

The Lord says: “The days are coming when people will no longer say, ‘The Lord is a living God for he brought the Israelites out of Egypt,’

Rather, they will say, ‘The Lord is a living God for he liberated the Israelites out of the northern land and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Yes, I will return them to their homeland—the land I gave to their ancestors.”

But now the Lord says, “I am sending for many fishermen to catch them. Afterward, I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain, hill, and cave in the rocks.

The things they do are obvious before my eyes, and the sins they commit are not hidden from me.

I will make them pay double for their wickedness and sin; they have contaminated my land with their idols, which are as dead as corpses, and have filled it with their abominations.”

Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble! From the farthest corners of the earth, nations will come to you and say: “Our ancestors possessed only falsehood, worthless idols in which there is no profit.”

Will people create their own gods? Then they are not gods!

Hence the Lord says: “I will reveal and make known my power and might. And they will understand that the Lord is my name.”