¶ Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD unto me:
Thou shalt take thee no wife, nor beget children in this place.
For of the children that are born in this place, of their mothers that have borne them, and of their fathers that have begotten them in this land; Thus sayeth the LORD:
They shall die an horrible death: and no man shall mourn for them, nor bury them, but they shall lie as dung upon the earth: They shall perish thorow the sword, and hunger, and their bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the earth.
Again, thus sayeth the LORD: Go not unto them that come together for to mourn and weep: for I have taken my peace from this people (sayeth the LORD) yea my favour and my mercy.
And in this land shall they die, old and young, and shall not be buried: no man shall beweep them, no man shall clip or shave himself for them.
There shall not one visit another, to mourn with them for their dead, or to comfort them. One shall not offer another the cup of consolation, to forget their heaviness for father and mother.
Thou shalt not go into their feast house, to sit down, much less to eat or drink with them.
For thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I shall take away out of this place, the voice of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride: yea and that in your days, that ye may see it.
¶ Now when thou shewest this people all these words, and they say unto thee: Wherefore hath the LORD devised all this great plague for us? Or what is the offense and sin, that we have done against the LORD our God?
Then make thou them this answer: Because your fathers have forsaken me, (sayeth the LORD) and have cleaved unto strange gods, whom they have honoured and worshiped: but me have they forsaken, and have not kept my law.
And ye with your shameful blasphemies, have exceeded the wickedness of your fathers. For every one of you followeth the froward and evil imagination of his own heart, and is not obedient unto me.
Therefore will I cast you out of this land in to a land that ye and your fathers know not: and there shall ye sever strange gods day and night, there will I shew you no favour.
¶ Behold therefore (sayeth the LORD) the days are come, that it shall no more be said: The LORD liveth, which brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:
but it shall be said, the LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel from the North, and from all lands where I had scattered them. For I will bring them again in to the land, that I gave unto their fathers.
Behold, (sayeth the LORD) I will send out many fishers to take them, and after that will I send out many hunters to hunt them out, from all mountains and hills and out of the caves of stones.
For mine eyes behold all their ways, and they can not be hid from my face, neither can their wicked deeds be kept close out of my sight.
But first will I sufficiently reward their shameful blasphemies and sins, wherewith they have defiled my land: Namely, with their stinking Idols and abominations, wherewith they have filled mine heritage.
O LORD, my strength, my power, and refuge in time of trouble. The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the world, and say: Verily our fathers have cleaved unto lies, their Idols are but vain and unprofitable.
How can a man make those his gods, which are not able to be gods.
And therefore I will once teach them, sayeth the LORD, I will shew them my hand and my power, that they may know, that my name is the LORD.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.