Jeremiah 16:7

7 No one will make a feast for them in sorrow, to give them comfort for the dead, or put to their lips the cup of comfort on account of their father or their mother.

Jeremiah 16:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:7

Neither shall men tear themselves
Either their flesh, or their clothes: or, "stretch out" ^F25; that is, their hands, and clap them together, and wring them, as persons in great distress do: or "divide", or "break", or "deal unto them" ^F26; that is, bread, as at their funeral feasts. Thus the Septuagint version, neither shall bread be broken in their mourning; and to the same sense the Targum; so the word is used in ( Isaiah 63:7 ) , a practice that obtained among the Heathens; see ( Deuteronomy 26:14 ) and now with the Jews, as it seems: which they did for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead;
they used to carry or send food to the surviving relations, and went and ate with them, in order to comfort them for the loss of their friends; but this now would not be done, not because an Heathenish custom, but because they would have no heart nor leisure for it: see ( Ezekiel 24:17 ) . Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their
father or for their mother:
not give them a cup of good liquor to comfort and cheer their spirits, overwhelmed with sorrow, on account of the death of a father or mother; which was wont to be done, but now should be omitted; the calamity would be so great, and so universal, that there would be none to do such offices as these; see ( Proverbs 31:6 Proverbs 31:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (worpy alw) "et non expandent, [sub.] manus suas", Vatablus, Montanus; "extendent", Pagninus, Calvin. So Kimchi and Ben Melech.
F26 "Non divident", Tigurine version; "neque impertientur, [sub.] cibum", Junius & Tremellius; "partientur panem", Piscator; "neque cibum dabunt", Schmidt. So Jarchi, Joseph Kimchi, and Abarbinel.

Jeremiah 16:7 In-Context

5 For this is what the Lord has said: Do not go into the house of sorrow, do not go to make weeping or songs of grief for them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, even mercy and pity.

6 Death will overtake great as well as small in the land: their bodies will not be put in a resting-place, and no one will be weeping for them or wounding themselves or cutting off their hair for them:

7 No one will make a feast for them in sorrow, to give them comfort for the dead, or put to their lips the cup of comfort on account of their father or their mother.

8 And you are not to go into the house of feasting, or be seated with them to take food or drink.

9 For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, before your eyes and in your days I will put an end in this place to the laughing voices and the voice of joy; to the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride.