1The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 2“You must not take a wife, nor have sons or daughters in this place.” 3For the LORD says this about the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and their mothers and fathers in this land: 4“They shall die of deadly diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried, but shall be like refuse lying on the ground; they shall perish either by the sword or famine; and their carcasses will become food for the birds, and for the wild animals.”

5For the LORD says, “Do not enter a funeral home, nor go to lament, mourn or express sympathy for them; for I have removed My peace, loving-kindness and mercies from this people. 6Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they will not be buried, nor mourned for, nor will anyone cut themselves, nor shave their heads for them. 7No one shall offer them a meal or drink to comfort or console their father or mother for their loss. 8Nor shall you enter the house where there is feasting, to sit to eat and drink with them.” 9For thus says Almighty God, the LORD of Israel, “Before your eyes, and in your days, I will cause the sound of mirth, and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom to cease in this place. 10And when you tell this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster upon us? Or what have we done wrong? Or what sin have we committed against the LORD, our God?’ 11Then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD, ‘and have worshipped, and served other gods, and not kept My law; 12And you are even worse than your fathers; because every one of you stubbornly indulges your evil imaginations, rather than listening to Me. 13So I will thrust you out of this land and into a land that neither you nor your fathers know, where I will not show you favor; and there you shall serve other gods day and night.’

14“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives, Who brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’; 15But, ‘The LORD lives, Who brought the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.’

16“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “And they shall catch them; and afterward will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them down from every mountain, and hill, and out of the crevices of the rocks. 17For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from Me, nor is their evil hidden from My eyes. 18And I will repay them double for their sin, because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with lifeless images of their detestable and abominable idols.”

19O LORD, my strength, fortress, and my refuge in the day of trouble, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth, and shall say, “Surely our fathers have left us a heritage of lies, vanity, and worthless idols. 20Shall men make their own gods? They do; but they are not gods at all!”

21“Therefore, I will teach them,” says the LORD, “This time I will cause them to know My power and might; and they shall know that My name is The LORD.”