6 And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them.
`And a cutting for the soul ye do not put in your flesh; and a writing, a cross-mark, ye do not put on you; I `am' Jehovah.
`Sons ye `are' to Jehovah your God; ye do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead;
Come hath baldness unto Gaza, Cut off hath been Ashkelon, O remnant of their valley, Till when dost thou cut thyself?
And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth,
Of painful deaths they die, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are, And by sword and by famine are consumed, And their carcase hath been for food To the fowl of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth.
And to the others he said in mine ears, `Pass on into the city after him, and smite; your eye doth not pity, nor do ye spare; aged, young man, and virgin, and infant, and women, ye do slay -- to destruction; and against any man on whom `is' the mark ye do not go nigh, and from My sanctuary ye begin.'
And Jehovah cutteth off from Israel head and tail, Branch and reed -- the same day, Elder, and accepted of face, he `is' the head, Prophet, teacher of falsehood, he `is' the tail. And the eulogists of this people are causing to err, And its eulogised ones are consumed. Therefore, over its young men the Lord rejoiceth not, And its orphans, and its widows He pitieth not, For every one `is' profane, and an evil doer, And every mouth is speaking folly. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.
Cut off thy crown, and cast `it' away, And lift up on high places lamentation, For Jehovah hath rejected, And He leaveth the generation of His wrath.
And thou hast said unto them, `Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, And the kings who sit for David on his throne, And the priests, and the prophets, And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, `With' drunkenness,
Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: They do not lament for him, Ah, my brother, and Ah, sister, They do not lament for him, Ah, lord, and Ah, his honour. The burial of an ass -- he is buried, Dragged and cast out thence to the gates of Jerusalem.
For every head `is' bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins -- sackcloth.
For lo, Jehovah is commanding, And He hath smitten the great house `with' breaches, And the little house `with' clefts.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 16
Commentary on Jeremiah 16 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 16
In this chapter,
Jer 16:1-9
The prophet is here for a sign to the people. They would not regard what he said; let it be tried whether they will regard what he does. In general, he must conduct himself so, in every thing, as became one that expected to see his country in ruins very shortly. This he foretold, but few regarded the prediction; therefore he is to show that he is himself fully satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in their usual course, but he, in the prospect of these sad times, is forbidden and therefore forbears marriage, mourning for the dead, and mirth. Note, Those that would convince others of and affect them with the word of God must make it appear, even in the most self-denying instances, that they do believe it themselves and are affected with it. If we would rouse others out of their security, and persuade them to sit loose to the world, we must ourselves be mortified to present things and show that we expect the dissolution of them.
Jer 16:10-13
Here is,
Jer 16:14-21
There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in these verses, and it is hard to know to which to apply some of the passages here-they are so interwoven, and some seem to look as far forward as the times of the gospel.