Jeremiah 16:7 kjv
Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
Jeremiah 16:7 nkjv
Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother.
Jeremiah 16:7 niv
No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead?not even for a father or a mother?nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.
Jeremiah 16:7 esv
No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.
Jeremiah 16:7 nlt
No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead ? not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
Jeremiah 16 7 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah 16:6 | "Great devastation shall occur in the land, both among the priests and among the people." | Jeremiah 16:6 (Direct context) |
| Jeremiah 16:4 | "They shall die of deadly diseases; they shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground." | Jeremiah 16:4 (Related judgment) |
| Ezekiel 24:17 | "Mourn without outward show; do not put on mourning clothes for the dead. Do not cover your heads or remove your sandals; do not cover your faces or eat the bread of men." | Ezekiel 24:17 (Parallel mourning restriction) |
| Lamentations 3:1 | "I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his indignation." | Lamentations 3:1 (Theme of suffering) |
| Hosea 9:4 | "They shall not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to him." | Hosea 9:4 (Worship restrictions) |
| Isaiah 30:14 | "And he shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, beyond all repair." | Isaiah 30:14 (Destruction imagery) |
| Amos 8:10 | "I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lament." | Amos 8:10 (Judgment reversal) |
| Micah 3:4 | "Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done evil deeds." | Micah 3:4 (Unanswered prayer) |
| Zephaniah 1:12 | "At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are settled in their complacency, those who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.'" | Zephaniah 1:12 (Punishment of complacency) |
| Jeremiah 15:10 | "Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land!" | Jeremiah 15:10 (Prophet's lament) |
| Deuteronomy 28:29 | "and you shall grope at noon as a blind man gropes in the darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways." | Deuteronomy 28:29 (Consequences of disobedience) |
| Leviticus 19:28 | "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any mark on you: I am the LORD." | Leviticus 19:28 (Prohibition of mourning rites) |
| Psalm 51:17 | "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." | Psalm 51:17 (Acceptable offerings) |
| Jeremiah 17:1 | "Judah's sin is engraved with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is inscribed on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars." | Jeremiah 17:1 (Deeply ingrained sin) |
| Ezekiel 14:14 | "even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only their own lives by their righteousness." | Ezekiel 14:14 (Inability of righteousness to save others) |
| Isaiah 43:2 | "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you." | Isaiah 43:2 (Divine presence in distress) |
| Lamentations 1:2 | "She weeps bitterly in the night; her tears are on her cheeks; she has no one for her comfort, all her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies." | Lamentations 1:2 (Lamentation imagery) |
| Jeremiah 16:7 | "You shall not eat, nor drink; you shall not give in marriage, nor be married;" | Jeremiah 16:7 (The core prohibition) |
| Jeremiah 4:19 | "Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony! Oh, the doors of my gates are shattered; the bolts of my doors are broken!" | Jeremiah 4:19 (Prophetic distress) |
| Romans 7:4 | "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." | Romans 7:4 (Dying to something to live for another) |
| 1 Corinthians 7:32 | "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord." | 1 Corinthians 7:32 (Focus on Lord due to being unmarried) |
Jeremiah 16 verses
Jeremiah 16 7 Meaning
This verse describes a somber mourning practice, reflecting a community's deep grief and separation due to divine judgment. It signifies a time of intense sorrow where people are cut off from common celebratory practices and left to lament.
Jeremiah 16 7 Context
Jeremiah 16 speaks of a coming judgment upon Judah. God instructs Jeremiah not to marry or have children because the land will be devastated, and all the people will die either by plague or sword. The emphasis is on the severity of the impending judgment, where even normal societal activities like marriage and mourning customs are forbidden because the scope of destruction will be so all-encompassing. This chapter serves as a powerful illustration of God's wrath against sin and the absolute destruction that will follow disobedience. Jeremiah's personal life is made a sign of this future desolation.
Jeremiah 16 7 Word Analysis
- You shall not eat:
- "eat" (Hebrew: אָכַל - 'akhal): To consume food. This prohibition signifies deprivation, an inability to partake in the sustenance and normalcy of life.
- nor drink:
- "drink" (Hebrew: שָׁתָה - shatah): To consume liquid. This further emphasizes the cessation of normal activities and the suffering from lack.
- you shall not give in marriage:
- "give in marriage" (Hebrew: נָתַן לְאִשָּׁה - natan l'ishah): To arrange a marriage, to give a daughter in marriage. This speaks to the prohibition of initiating new family units or continuing the lineage due to the impending doom.
- nor be married:
- "be married" (Hebrew: לָקַח לְאִשָּׁה - laqach l'ishah): To take a wife, to marry. This is the counterpart to the previous phrase, indicating that individuals themselves are barred from entering into marital unions.
Word Groups/Phrases Analysis:
- "You shall not eat, nor drink": This paired prohibition reflects a state of extreme hardship and impending death where normal bodily sustenance is denied, either by divine decree or by the circumstances of disaster and death. It speaks to a society where life's basic comforts and necessities are completely withdrawn.
- "you shall not give in marriage, nor be married": This prohibition against marriage directly impacts the future generation and the continuation of family and societal structures. It signifies that the coming judgment will be so complete that procreation and the establishment of new families are rendered futile and even inappropriate given the widespread death and devastation. It points to a prophetic statement about the cessation of life and future.
Jeremiah 16 7 Bonus Section
The prohibitions here go beyond physical actions; they represent a spiritual barrenness and an inability to participate in the future, as marriage signifies hope and continuation. This isolation extends even to participating in joyous occasions or initiating new life. In parallel, under Old Testament law, certain individuals were restricted from priestly duties if they had afflictions or committed certain sins, but this is a far more pervasive prohibition affecting the prophet and, by extension, the entire nation in the impending judgment. This instruction for Jeremiah mirrors the solemnity of professions and mourning in other parts of the Old Testament, but Jeremiah’s experience is uniquely severe due to the future he is tasked to proclaim.
Jeremiah 16 7 Commentary
Jeremiah is commanded by God to abstain from fundamental life activities: eating, drinking, marrying, and being married. This is not merely a personal inconvenience but a prophetic sign of the severe judgment about to befall Judah. The land will experience such widespread death and devastation that normal societal functions will cease. The absence of mourning rituals, as seen in earlier verses (Jer 16:4-7), and now the prohibition on marriage, emphasizes the completeness of God's judgment. It underscores a time when life is so precarious and death so prevalent that the continuation of the line through marriage is unthinkable and divinely prohibited. The inability to eat or drink also speaks to a state of severe affliction and potential starvation or death from disease, removing any capacity for celebration or normal sustenance.