Distresses Foretold 1The word of the LORD also came to me saying, 2You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place. 3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land: 4They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth. 5For thus says the LORD, Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people, declares the LORD, My lovingkindness and compassion. 6Both great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them. 7Men will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyones father or mother. 8Moreover you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink. 9For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride. 10Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God? 11Then you are to say to them, It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me. 13So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.
16Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. 17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. 18I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.
19O LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
20Can man make gods for himself?
21Therefore behold, I am going to make them know New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org Bible Apps |