Jeremias 16

ARC · Chapter 16/52

1E veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

2Não tomarás para ti mulher, nem terás filhos nem filhas n'este logar.

3Porque assim diz o Senhor, ácerca dos filhos e das filhas que nascerem n'este logar, ácerca de suas mães, que os parirem, e de seus paes que os gerarem n'esta terra:

4Morrerão de enfermidades dolorosas, e não serão pranteados nem sepultados: servirão d'esterco sobre a terra; e pela espada e pela fome serão consumidos , e os seus cadaveres servirão de mantimento para as aves do céu e para os animaes da terra.

5Porque assim diz o Senhor: Não entres na casa do luto, nem vás a lamentar, nem te compadeças d'elles; porque já d'este povo, diz o Senhor, tirei a minha paz, benignidade e misericordia.

6E morrerão grandes e pequenos n'esta terra, e não serão sepultados, e não os prantearão nem se farão por elles incisões, nem por elles se raparão os cabellos.

7E nada se lhes repartirá por dó, para consolal-os por causa de morte: nem lhes darão a beber do copo de consolação, nem por pae de alguem, nem por mãe de alguem.

8Nem entres na casa do banquete, para te assentares com elles a comer e a beber.

9Porque assim diz o Senhor dos Exercitos, o Deus d'Israel: Eis que farei cessar d'este logar perante os vossos olhos, e em vossos dias, a voz de gozo e a voz de alegria, a voz do esposo e a voz da esposa.

10E será que, quando annunciares a este povo todas estas palavras, e elles te disserem: Porque falla o Senhor sobre nós todo este grande mal? e qual é a nossa iniquidade, e qual é o nosso peccado, que peccámos contra o Senhor nosso Deus

11Então lhes dirás: Porquanto vossos paes me deixaram, diz o Senhor, e se foram após deuses alheios, e os serviram, e se inclinaram diante d'elles, e a mim me deixaram, e a minha lei não a guardaram.

12E vós fizestes peior do que vossos paes; porque, eis que cada um de vós anda após o proposito do seu malvado coração, para me não dar ouvidos a mim

13E lançar-vos-hei fóra d'esta terra, para uma terra que não conhecestes, nem vós nem vossos paes; e ali servireis a deuses alheios de dia e de noite, porque não usarei de misericordia comvosco.

14Portanto, eis que dias veem, diz o Senhor, em que nunca mais se dirá: Vive o Senhor, que fez subir os filhos d'Israel da terra do Egypto.

15Mas: Vive o Senhor, que fez subir os filhos d'Israel da terra do norte, e de todas as terras para onde os tinha lançado; porque fal-os-hei voltar á sua terra, a qual dei a seus paes.

16Eis que mandarei muitos pescadores, diz o Senhor, os quaes os pescarão, e depois enviarei muitos caçadores, os quaes os caçarão de sobre todo o monte, e de sobre todo o outeiro, e até das fendas das rochas.

17Porque os meus olhos estão sobre todos os seus caminhos; não se escondem perante a minha face, nem a sua maldade se encobre de diante dos meus olhos.

18E primeiramente pagarei em dobro a sua maldade e o seu peccado, porque profanaram a minha terra com os cadaveres das suas coisas detestaveis, e das suas abominações encheram a minha herança.

19Ó Senhor, fortaleza minha, e força minha, e refugio meu no dia da angustia: a ti virão as nações desde os fins da terra, e dirão: Nossos paes herdaram só mentiras, e vaidade, em que não havia proveito.

20Porventura fará um homem deuses para si, quando elles não são deuses?

21Portanto, eis que os farei conhecer; d'esta vez os farei conhecer a minha mão e o meu poder; e saberão que o meu nome é o Senhor.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God forbids Jeremiah from marrying or having children, and from taking part in funerals or celebrations, as a prophetic sign that the ordinary joys of life would be cut off in Judah by the coming judgment.

Explanation

The restrictions placed on Jeremiah — not marrying, not having children, not attending funerals or feasts — functioned as a living sermon: his very life became a visible sign of what was coming. This shows the high personal cost of the prophetic calling, going far beyond simply speaking hard messages. Despite the weight of the judgment announced, the chapter ends on a note of hope: one day the people will remember God not only as the one who brought Israel out of Egypt, but as the one who brought them back from the land of the north — foreshadowing restoration after the exile.

Fun facts

  • The prohibition against taking part in mourning rituals (v.5-7) included Canaanite practices of self-mutilation and head-shaving that the Mosaic law already condemned (Leviticus 19:28), reinforcing that Jeremiah was to distance himself completely from the popular customs of the time.
  • The promise that God would send 'fishermen' and then 'hunters' (v.16) vividly describes how the scattered people would be tracked down and brought back — first drawn in, then pursued more intensely.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremias 16:1A transition formula introducing a new set of unusual instructions given to Jeremiah, beginning with the prohibition against marrying.
  2. Jeremias 16:2God forbids Jeremiah to marry and have children. A shocking enacted sign in a culture where family was everything: the message is that the coming disaster is so great it isn’t worth starting a family in a land about to become a graveyard.
  3. Jeremias 16:3God explains why He forbade Jeremiah’s marriage: the fate of the families still to be born in Judah will be so tragic that it is better not to have children there at all.
  4. Jeremias 16:4Describes the shocking fate awaiting these future families: painful deaths followed by the dishonor of not receiving a proper burial.
  5. Jeremias 16:5Another unusual order: Jeremiah is forbidden to attend funerals, a hugely important social gesture at the time, signaling that God has withdrawn His peace and compassion from the people.
  6. Jeremias 16:6Describes traditional mourning rituals, like cutting the body or shaving the head, that simply will not happen — death will be too widespread for the normal customs of mourning.
  7. Jeremias 16:7Mentions customs of comfort for mourners, like sharing food or a cup of consolation, which will also disappear given the scale of the tragedy.
  8. Jeremias 16:8Jeremiah is also forbidden to take part in celebrations and banquets — his whole personal life becomes a prophetic sign of isolation in the face of the coming judgment.
  9. Jeremias 16:9Confirms that these prohibitions placed on Jeremiah are a foretaste: soon, all the sounds of feasting and marriage will truly disappear from the life of the nation.
  10. Jeremias 16:10God anticipates that the people will react with surprise and perhaps outrage, asking why they deserve such a great judgment — the answer comes in the next verse.
  11. Jeremias 16:11God’s answer: the root cause comes from past generations who abandoned the covenant and served other gods, and the current one has kept walking that same path.
  12. Jeremias 16:12God makes clear that Jeremiah’s generation is not a passive victim of the past: they made it even worse, following their own impulses instead of correcting course.
  13. Jeremias 16:13Directly announces exile as the consequence — and says the people will keep serving other gods there too, since that was their choice even with the true God available to them.
  14. Jeremias 16:14The exodus from Egypt was the founding event of Israel, cited constantly in prayers; here Jeremiah promises an even greater new milestone. The return from Babylonian captivity will replace Egypt as the story the people tell about their own salvation.
  15. Jeremias 16:15After the harsh announcement of exile comes a promise of hope: one day, the return from captivity will replace even the exodus from Egypt itself as the great story of deliverance.
  16. Jeremias 16:16Uses images of fishing and hunting to describe how the scattered people will be pursued and brought back, whether by the enemies who capture them or later in the promised restoration.
  17. Jeremias 16:17God states that nothing of the people’s behavior went unnoticed — all their wickedness was visible to Him the whole time, even when it seemed hidden.
  18. Jeremias 16:18Before any restoration, a double payment for sin will come — the land was defiled with idols, treated here as the “carcases” of detestable things, with no real life in them.
  19. Jeremias 16:19In the midst of so much judgment, a surprising vision arises: even foreign nations will come to acknowledge that the very gods they inherited from their ancestors were nothing but empty lies.
  20. Jeremias 16:20A rhetorical question that sums up the central irony of idolatry: how can a human being manufacture something and then call it a god, when the thing made was never truly divine?
  21. Jeremias 16:21Closes the chapter with the promise that, through judgment, the people will finally come to know God’s real power — punishment also serves as a harsh form of revelation.

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