Day of Disaster
1 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 2 "You
must not marry and have sons or daughters in this
place." 3 For this is what the LORD says about the
sons and daughters born in this land and about the
women who are their mothers and the men who are
their fathers: 4 "They will die of deadly diseases.
They will not be mourned or buried but will be like
dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword
and famine, and their dead bodies will become food
for the birds and the wild animals."
5 For this is what the LORD says: "Do not enter a
house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to
mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn
my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,"
declares the LORD. 6 "Both high and low will die in
this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no
one will cut themselves or shave their head for the
dead. 7 No one will offer food to comfort those who
mourn for the dead--not even for a father or a
mother--nor will anyone give them a drink to
console them.
8 "And do not enter a house where there is
feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 For this is
what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end
to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices
of bride and bridegroom in this place.
10 "When you tell these people all this and they
ask you, 'Why has the LORD decreed such a great
disaster against us? What wrong have we done?
What sin have we committed against the LORD our
God?' 11 then say to them, 'It is because your
ancestors forsook me,' declares the LORD, 'and
followed other gods and served and worshiped
them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.
12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your
ancestors. See how all of you are following the
stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying
me. 13 So I will throuw you out of this land into a
land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and
there you will serve other gods day and night, for I
will show you no favor.'
14 "However, the days are coming," declares the
LORD, "When it will no longer be said, 'As surely as
the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of
Egypt,' 15 but it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD
lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land
of the north and out of all the countries where he
had banished them.' For I will restore them to the
land I gave their ancestors.
16 "But now I will send for many fishermen,"
declares the LORD, "and they will catch them. After
that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt
them down on every mountain and hill and from the
crevices of the rocks. 17 My eyes are on all their
ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin
concealed from my eyes. 18 I will repay them double
for their wickedness and their sin, because they
have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their
vile images and have filled my inheritance with their
detestable idols."
19 LORD, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come
from the ends of the earth and say,
"Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,
worthless idols that did them no good.
20 Do people make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!"
21 "Therefore I will teach them--
this time I will teach them
my power and might.
Then they will know
that my name is the LORD.