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Jeremiah’s Life-Style and Message
1The word of the Lord also came to me, saying,
2“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
3For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land:
4“They shall die ⚓gruesome deaths; they shall not be ⚓lamented nor shall they be ⚓buried, but they shall be ⚓like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ⚓corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5For thus says the Lord: ⚓“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
6Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; ⚓neither shall men lament for them, ⚓cut themselves, nor ⚓make themselves bald for them.
7Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to ⚓drink for their father or their mother.
8Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ⚓I will cause to cease from this place, before 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.
10“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ⚓‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’
11then you shall say to them, ⚓‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12And you have done ⚓worse than your fathers, for behold, ⚓each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13⚓Therefore I will cast you out of this land ⚓into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
God Will Restore Israel
14“Therefore behold, the ⚓days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the ⚓north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For ⚓I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16“Behold, I will send for many ⚓fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17For My ⚓eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18And first I will repay ⚓double for their iniquity and their sin, because ⚓they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19O Lord, ⚓my strength and my fortress,
⚓My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and ⚓unprofitable things.”
20Will a man make gods for himself,
⚓Which are not gods?
21“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that ⚓My name is the Lord.
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耶和华要耶利米独身
1耶和华的话又临到我，说：
2“你不可在这地方娶妻，为自己生儿育女。
3因为论到在这地方所生的儿女，又论到在这国中生他们的父母，耶和华如此说：
4他们必死于致命的疾病，无人哀哭，不得埋葬，在地上如粪土，因刀剑和饥荒而灭绝；他们的尸首必给空中的飞鸟和地上的走兽作食物。
5“耶和华如此说：不要进入丧家，不要去哀哭，也不要为他们悲伤，因我已使我的平安、慈爱、怜悯离开这百姓。这是耶和华说的。
6他们连大带小，都必在这地死亡，不得埋葬。人必不为他们哀哭，不为他们割划自己，也不剃光头。
7有丧事，人不为他们擘饼⚓ ，也不因死人安慰他们；他们丧父丧母，人也不给他们一杯酒安慰他们。
8你不可进入宴乐的家，与人同坐又吃又喝，
9因为万军之耶和华－以色列的上帝如此说：看哪，你们还活着的日子，我必在你们眼前止息这地方欢喜和快乐的声音、新郎和新娘的声音。
10“你将这一切的话指示这百姓，他们若问你说：‘耶和华为什么说，要降这大灾祸攻击我们呢？我们有什么罪孽呢？我们向耶和华－我们的上帝犯了什么罪呢？’
11你就对他们说：‘因为你们祖先离弃了我，随从别神，事奉敬拜它们，却离弃我，不遵守我的律法。这是耶和华说的。
12你们行恶比你们祖先更甚，看哪，各人随从自己顽梗的恶心行事，不听从我。
13所以我必将你们从这地赶出，直赶到你们和你们祖先素不认识之地。你们在那里昼夜必事奉别神，因为我必不再向你们施恩。’”
预告被掳归回
14“看哪，日子将到，人必不再指着那领以色列人从埃及地上来的永生耶和华起誓。这是耶和华说的。
15人却要指着那领以色列人离开北方之地，离开他们被赶到的各国之永生的耶和华起誓；并且我要领他们归回我从前赐给他们祖先之地。”
将要临到的惩罚
16“看哪，我要差派许多打鱼的捕获他们；以后，我也要派许多打猎的，从各山上、各冈上、各石穴中猎取他们。这是耶和华说的。
17因我的眼目察看他们一切的行为；他们不能在我面前遮掩，他们的罪孽也不能在我眼前隐藏。
18我要先加倍报应他们的罪孽和罪恶，因为他们以可憎之偶像的尸首使我的地玷污，使我的产业充斥可厌之物。”
耶利米的信心祈祷
19耶和华啊，你是我的力量，
是我的保障，
在患难之日是我的避难所。
列国的人必从地极来到你这里，说：
“我们祖先所承受的，
不过是虚假，是虚空无益之物。
20人岂可为自己制造神明呢？
其实它们不是神明。”
21“所以，看哪，我要使他们知道，就是这一次使他们知道我的手和我的能力。他们就知道我的名是耶和华了。”