Jeremiah 16:14-21

The Lord Will Restore Israel

14 ¹“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ²‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, ’

15 but ³‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ⁴out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them. ’ For ⁵I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

16 “Behold, ⁶I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out ⁷of the clefts of the rocks.

17 For ⁸my eyes are on all their ways. ⁹They are not hidden from me, ¹⁰nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

18 But first ¹¹I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and ¹²have filled my inheritance with their abominations. ”

19 ¹³O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, ¹⁴my refuge in the day of trouble, ¹⁵to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, ¹⁶worthless things in which there is no profit.

20 Can man make for himself ¹⁷gods? Such are not gods! ”

21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that ¹⁸my name is the Lord. ”

Jeremiah 16:14-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 16

In this chapter the ruin and destruction of the Jews is set forth, and confirmed by the prophet's being forbid to be merry, or to go into the house of feasting or mourning, with the reasons thereof; also the sins of the people, the cause of it, are pointed at; and afterwards a promise of their restoration is made; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer of the prophet, pressing his faith in the divine protection, and in the calling of the Gentiles. After the preface or introduction, Jer 16:1, the prophet is forbid to take a wife, or have any children, with the reason of it; because that parents and children would die of grievous deaths unlamented, and not be buried, Jer 16:2-4 and he is also forbid to go into the house of mourning, because peace, lovingkindness, and mercy, were taken from the people, and both great and small would die, and no lamentation be made for them, nor have any burial also, Jer 16:5-7, nor might he go into the house of feasting, because the voice of joy and gladness would cease out of the land, Jer 16:8,9, and upon the people's inquiring the reason of all this, the prophet is bid to tell them, that it was for their forsaking the Lord and his worship, and for their idolatrous practices; of which they were more guilty than their forefathers, and therefore would be cast out of the land, and carried captive into a strange country, Jer 16:10-13 but, after all this, they should be restored again to their own land, and have a greater deliverance than that out of Egypt, as they themselves would own, Jer 16:14,15 but before this would be, fishers and hunters should be sent to distress them, and all because of their iniquities, which God's eye was upon, and would recompense, Jer 16:16-18, and the chapter is closed with the prophet's prayer, in which he expresses his faith in the Lord, and in the conversion of the Gentiles, who would be convinced of their idolatry, and made to know the power and name of the Lord, Jer 16:19,20.

Cross References

• 1. 16:14 For ver. 14, 15, see ch. 23:7, 8
• 2. 16:14 ch. 4:2
• 3. 16:15 [See ver. 14 above]
• 4. 16:15 [Isa. 43:5, 6]; See ch. 3:18
• 5. 16:15 ch. 24:6; 30:3; 32:37
• 6. 16:16 [Ezek. 12:13; Amos 4:2; Hab. 1:15]
• 7. 16:16 ch. 13:4
• 8. 16:17 ch. 32:19; 2 Chr. 16:9; Job 34:21; Prov. 5:21
• 9. 16:17 [Ps. 51:9; 90:8]
• 10. 16:17 [Ps. 51:9; 90:8]
• 11. 16:18 ch. 17:18; Isa. 40:2
• 12. 16:18 [Isa. 65:4]; See Ezek. 43:7-9
• 13. 16:19 2 Sam. 22:33; Ps. 28:7; 31:3, 4; Isa. 25:4
• 14. 16:19 ch. 17:17
• 15. 16:19 [Isa. 9:2; 49:6, 22, 23]
• 16. 16:19 See ch. 18:15
• 17. 16:20 [1 Cor. 8:4]; See ch. 2:11
• 18. 16:21 See ch. 33:2