Jeremiah 16

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as fol ows:	1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 'You are not to marry or have sons and daughters in this place.	2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have thee sons and daughters in this place.
3 For Yahweh says this regarding the sons and daughters to be born in this place, about the motherswho give birth to them, and about the fathers who beget them in this land,	3 For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them: and concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land:
4 "They wil die of deadly diseases, unlamented and unburied; they will be like dung spread on theground; they wil meet their end by sword and famine, and their corpses wil be food for the birds of the sky andthe beasts of earth."	4 They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.
5 'Yes, Yahweh says this, "Go into no house where there is mourning, do not go and lament or grievewith them; for I have withdrawn my peace from this people, Yahweh declares, and faithful love and pity too.	5 For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of feasting, neither go thou to mourn, nor to comfort them: because I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, my mercy and commiserations.
6 High or low, they wil die in this country, without burial or lament; there wil be no gashing, no shaving ofthe head for them.	6 Both the great and the little shall die in the land: they shall not be buried nor lamented, and men shall not cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.
7 No bread will be broken for the mourner to comfort him for the dead; no cup of consolation wil beoffered him for his father or his mother.	7 And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort him for the dead: neither shall they give them to drink of the cup, to comfort them for their father and mother.
8 "And do not enter a house where there is feasting, to sit with them and eat and drink.	8 And do not thou go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, and to eat and drink.
9 For Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: In this place, before your eyes, in your own days, Iwil silence the shouts of rejoicing and mirth and the voices of bridegroom and bride.	9 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will take away out of this place in your sight, 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 "When you tel these people this and they ask you: Why has Yahweh decreed such complete andtotal disaster for us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we committed against Yahweh our God?	10 And when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we have sinned against the Lord our God?
11 then you are to answer: It is because your ancestors abandoned me, Yahweh declares, and fol owedother gods, and served and worshipped them. They abandoned me and did not keep my Law.	11 Thou shalt say to them: Because your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord: and went after strange gods, and served them, and adored them: and they forsook me, and kept not my law.
12 And you for your part have behaved even worse than your ancestors. Look, each of you fol ows hisown stubborn and wicked inclinations, without listening to me.	12 And you also have done worse than your fathers: for behold every one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not to hearken to me.
13 And so, I shal eject you from this country into a country unknown to you or to your ancestors, andthere you can serve other gods, day and night, for I shal show you no more favour."	13 So I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land which you know not, nor you fathers: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, which shall not give you any rest.
14 'Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people wil no longer say, "As Yahweh lives whobrought the Israelites out of Egypt!"	14 Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, when it shall be said no more: The Lord liveth, that brought for the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
15 but, "As Yahweh lives who brought the Israelites back from the land of the north and al the countriesto which he had driven them." I shal bring them back to the very soil I gave their ancestors.'	15 But, the Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the north, and out of all the lands to which I cast them out: and I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their fathers.
16 'Watch, I shal send for many fishermen, Yahweh declares, and these wil fish them up; next, I shalsend for many huntsmen, and these wil hunt them out of every mountain, every hil , and out of the holes in therocks.	16 Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For my eyes watch al their ways, these are not hidden from me, and their guilt does not escape mygaze.	17 For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, and their iniquity hath not been hid from my eyes.
18 I shal requite their guilt and their sin twice over, since they have pol uted my country with thecarcases of their Horrors, and fil ed my heritage with their Abominations.'	18 And I will repay first their double iniquities, and their sins: because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.
19 Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold, my refuge in time of distress! To you the nations wil come fromthe remotest parts of the earth and say, 'Our fathers inherited nothing but Delusion, Futility of no use whatever.	19 O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge in the day of tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which hath not profited them.
20 Can human beings make their own gods? These are not gods at al !'	20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and there are no gods?
21 'Now listen, I will make them acknowledge, this time I wil make them acknowledge my hand and mymight; and then they wil know that Yahweh is my name.'	21 Therefore, behold I will this once cause them to know, I will shew them my hand and my power: and they shall know that my name is the Lord.