| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1The LORD gave me another message. He said, | 1The LORD said to me, |
| 2“Do not get married or have children in this place. | 2"Do not get married and do not have children here in this land. |
| 3For this is what the LORD says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: | 3For I, the LORD, tell you what will happen to the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. |
| 4They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.” Judah’s Coming Punishment | 4They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals. |
| 5This is what the LORD says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. | 5"Moreover I, the LORD, tell you: 'Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, my love, and my compassion. I, the LORD, so affirm it! |
| 6Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness. | 6Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. |
| 7No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them. | 7No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother. |
| 8“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all. | 8"'Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either. |
| 9For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. | 9For I, the LORD God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.'" |
| 10“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the LORD our God?’ | 10"When you tell these people about all this, they will undoubtedly ask you, 'Why has the LORD threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the LORD our God?' |
| 11“Then you will give them the LORD’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. | 11Then tell them that the LORD says, 'It is because your ancestors rejected me and paid allegiance to other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. |
| 12And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me. | 12And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. |
| 13So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’ Hope despite the Disaster | 13So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.'" |
| 14“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ | 14Yet I, the LORD, say: "A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with 'I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.' |
| 15Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors. | 15But in that time they will affirm them with 'I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.' At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors." |
| 16“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the LORD. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves. | 16But for now I, the LORD, say: "I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. |
| 17I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. | 17For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. |
| 18I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.” Jeremiah’s Prayer of Confidence | 18Before I restore them I will punish them in full for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own with their detestable idols." |
| 19LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols. | 19Then I said, "LORD, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors had nothing but false gods--worthless idols that could not help them at all. |
| 20Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!” | 20Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all." |
| 21The LORD says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD. | 21The LORD said, "So I will now let this wicked people know--I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the LORD." |
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