Jeremias 16:5

5 Thus saith the Lord, Enter not into their mourning feast, and go not to lament, and mourn not for them: for I have removed my peace from this people.

Jeremias 16:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:5

For thus saith the Lord, enter not into the house of mourning,
&c.] On account of his dead relations or neighbours; since they were taken away from the evil to come, and therefore no occasion to mourn for them: moreover, this was to show the certainty of what is before and after said; that, at the time of the general calamity predicted, there would be no lamentation made for the dead. R. Joseph Kimchi says the word here used signifies, in the Arabic ^F23 language, a lifting of the voice, either for weeping, or for joy ^F24; and Jarchi, out of the ancient book Siphri, interprets it a "feast"; and it is rendered a "banquet" in ( Amos 6:7 ) , and so may here design a mourning feast, such as were used at funerals, called by the Greeks (perideipnea) , and by the Latins "parentalia", as Jerom observes. Neither go to lament nor bemoan them; neither go to the house of mourning, or the mourning feast; to the houses of the deceased, to condole the surviving relations, and to express sorrow for the dead, by shedding tears, and shaking the head, or by any other gesture or ceremony after mentioned, For I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord;
all peace or prosperity is of God, and therefore called his, and which he can take away from a people when he pleases; and having determined to take it away from this people because of their sins, he is said to have done it, it being as certain as if it was done: even lovingkindness and mercies;
all benefits, which flowed from his favour, love, and mercy, as the whole of their prosperity did.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 <arabic> "magna et vehementi voce praeditus", Golius ex Giggeio, col. 979.
F24 So the word is used in the Chaldee language: as Schindler observes in Lex. col. 1722.

Jeremias 16:5 In-Context

3 For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that have born them, and concerning their fathers that have begotten them in this land;

4 They shall die of grievous death; they shall not be lamented, nor buried; they shall be for an example on the face of the earth; and they shall be for the wild beasts of the land, and for the birds of the sky: they shall fall by the sword, and shall be consumed with famine.

5 Thus saith the Lord, Enter not into their mourning feast, and go not to lament, and mourn not for them: for I have removed my peace from this people.

6 They shall not bewail them, nor make cuttings for them, and they shall not shave themselves :

7 and there shall be no bread broken in mourning for them for consolation over the dead: they shall not give one to drink a cup for consolation over his father or his mother.