For Yahweh says, “Don’t enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people,” says Yahweh, “even loving kindness and tender mercies.
Parallel translations
- KJV For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
- BSB Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
- NASB For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “and My favor and compassion.
- NLT This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God forbids Jeremiah from entering any house of mourning, for He has withdrawn His peace, steadfast love, and mercy from this people. The absence of normal mourning signals that God has removed His covenant comfort.
Overview
To abstain from mourning rituals was itself a message: the coming deaths would be too many and the people too estranged from God for ordinary comfort. The withdrawal of God's peace and lovingkindness is the heart of the tragedy. Yet this loss highlights the preciousness of the steadfast love that God restores fully in Christ, who is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ezek 24:16–23Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Jer 15:1–4Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
- Deut 31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
- Jer 16:6–7Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;
- Rev 6:4Another came out, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.
- Zech 8:10For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
- 2 Chr 15:5–6In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 16:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.