Jeremiah 16:6

6 And great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall be bewailed; and they shall not cut themselves, neither baldness shall be made for them.

Jeremiah 16:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:6

Both the great and the small shall die in this land
The nobles as well as the common people, high and low, rich and poor; none shall be exempted from the grievous deaths by the sword, famine, and pestilence. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them;
as before, ( Jeremiah 16:4 ) , this shall be the common case of them all; the great and the rich shall have no more care and notice taken of them than the poor: nor cut themselves;
their flesh, with their nails, or with knives, to show their grief for the dead, and to alleviate the sorrow of surviving friends, by bearing a part with them: nor make themselves bald for them;
by plucking off the hair of their heads, or by shaving them, and between their eyes; which though forbidden the Jews by the law of God, as being Heathenish customs, yet obtained in the times of Jeremiah, and were usually done; see ( Deuteronomy 14:1 ) .

Jeremiah 16:6 In-Context

4 They shall die by deaths of sicknesses, they shall not be bewailed, and they shall not be buried; they shall be into a dunghill on the face of [the] earth, and they shall be wasted by sword and hunger; and the carrion of them shall be into meat to the volatiles of heaven, and to [the] beasts of the earth. (They shall die by the death of sicknesses, but they shall not be bewailed, and they shall not be buried; they shall be like a mound of dung upon the face of the earth, and they shall be wasted by the sword and by hunger; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, or of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.)

5 For the Lord saith these things, Enter thou not into an house of feast, neither go thou to bewail, neither comfort thou them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, and (my) mercy and merciful doings.

6 And great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall be bewailed; and they shall not cut themselves, neither baldness shall be made for them.

7 And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort on a dead man, and they shall not give to them drink of a cup, to comfort on their father and mother. (And they shall not break bread among themselves with him who mourneth, to comfort him over the dead, and they shall not give a drink from a cup to anyone, to comfort them over the loss of even their father or their mother.)

8 And thou shalt not enter into the house of (the) feast, that thou sit with them, and eat, and drink.