What is the meaning of Jeremiah 16:7?

No food will be offered

Jeremiah records the LORD’s words: “No food will be offered.” Funeral meals were a normal kindness in Israel; the law itself alludes to them—“I have not eaten any of it while in mourning” (Deuteronomy 26:14). The coming siege will cancel that practice.

• Ordinary rhythms of hospitality will stop (Lamentations 1:4).

• Shared bread, a sign of God’s favor, will be withdrawn (Hosea 2:9; Joel 1:9-10).

• The picture is literal: famine will leave no surplus for sympathy meals (Isaiah 22:12-14).

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to comfort those who mourn the dead

The withheld meal would have been “to comfort those who mourn the dead.” Scripture shows comforters with Job (Job 2:11-13) and with Mary and Martha (John 11:19). Here, God removes that support.

• “None shall lament for them” (Jeremiah 16:6).

• Broken fellowship mirrors broken covenant—“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?” (Jeremiah 15:5).

• Deprived of horizontal comfort, mourners must seek the LORD alone (Psalm 34:18).

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not even a cup of consolation will be given

Beyond food, “not even a cup of consolation will be given.” A small cup of wine was customary—“Give strong drink to one who is perishing” (Proverbs 31:6). Its absence signals:

• Compassion itself dries up (Micah 7:2).

• Judah will instead drink “the cup of the LORD’s wrath” (Isaiah 51:17).

• As with Ezekiel—“Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead” (Ezekiel 24:17)—sorrow will be forced and silent.

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for the loss of a father or mother

Even the most personal grief—“the loss of a father or mother”—will get no help. Honoring parents is foundational (Exodus 20:12), yet:

• “We have become orphans without a father” (Lamentations 5:3).

• Sin’s reach devastates the family core (Jeremiah 6:11).

• When earthly supports fail, only the LORD remains: “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me” (Psalm 27:10).

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summary

Jeremiah 16:7 foresees a judgment so severe that every ordinary act of comfort—meals, visits, even a single cup of wine—disappears. Social structures, friendships, and family circles cannot shield Judah from the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness. The verse drives home both the literal certainty of God’s justice and the urgency of staying near the only true source of consolation—the LORD Himself.