耶和华降灾难的日子
1耶和华对耶利米说： 2“你不可在这地方娶妻，也不可生儿育女。 3至于在这地方出生的孩子和他们的父母，耶和华说， 4‘他们必死于恶疾，无人哀悼，无人埋葬，他们好像地上的粪便。他们必死于战争和饥荒，尸首必成为飞鸟和走兽的食物。’” 5耶和华对我说：“你不要进入丧家为他们哀悼悲伤，因为我已收回我赐给这百姓的平安、慈爱和怜悯。这是耶和华说的。 6他们无论尊卑都要死在这里，无人埋葬，无人哀悼，也无人为他们的死而割伤身体、剃光头发。 7无人用食物和酒安慰哀悼者，甚至无人给丧父或丧母者一杯安慰酒。 8你不可进入宴乐之家与他们同坐吃喝。” 9以色列的上帝——万军之耶和华说：“在这百姓有生之年，我要使这地方的欢乐声和新郎新娘的欢笑声从他们眼前消失。
10“当你把这些话告诉他们的时候，他们会质问你，‘耶和华为什么给我们降这大灾难？我们有什么罪？我们哪里得罪了我们的上帝耶和华？’ 11你要对他们说，‘耶和华说，你们的祖先背弃我，去跟随、供奉、祭拜别的神明；他们背弃我，不遵守我的律法。 12可是，你们的行为比他们更邪恶，一意孤行，不听从我。 13所以，我要把你们从这里驱逐到你们和你们祖先都不认识的地方，你们在那里要日夜供奉别的神明，因为我不再恩待你们。’”
14耶和华说：“时候将到，那时人不再凭把以色列人带出埃及的耶和华起誓， 15而是凭把他们从流放之地——北方和列国领回来的永活的耶和华起誓。因为我必领他们回到我赐给他们祖先的地方。”
16耶和华说：“看啊，我要召来许多渔夫把他们捕捞上来，我要召来许多猎人去各山岭和岩穴猎取他们。 17因为我鉴察他们的一切行为，他们无法隐藏，他们的罪恶逃不过我的眼晴。 18首先，我要让他们因自己的罪与恶而受加倍的报应，因为他们用没有生命气息的可憎偶像玷污我的土地，使可厌之物充满我的产业。”
19耶和华啊，你是我的力量，
是我的堡垒，
是我患难时的避难所。
万国都要从地极来朝见你，
说：“我们祖先所拜的神像虚假无用，一无是处。
20难道人可以为自己制造神明吗？
其实那些神明并不是真神。”
21耶和华说：“看啊，这一次我要让他们知道我的权柄和能力，让他们知道我是耶和华。”
Times of Trouble Are Coming
1A message from the Lord came to me. He said, 2“Jeremiah, you must not get married. You must not have any sons or daughters in this land.” 3Here is the Lord’s message about the children born in this place. He says about them and their parents, 4“Some of them will die of deadly sicknesses. No one will mourn for them. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will be like human waste lying there on the ground. Others will die because of war and hunger. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”
5The Lord says, “Jeremiah, suppose a meal is being served because someone has died. Do not enter any house where that is happening. Do not go there to mourn or to comfort the family. I will not bless these people anymore. I have taken my love and pity away from them,” announces the Lord. 6“Important and unimportant people alike will die in this land. Their bodies will not be buried. No one will mourn for them. No one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. 7No one will offer food or drink to comfort those who mourn for the dead. No one will do this even if someone’s father or mother has died.
8“Do not enter a house where a feast is being held. Do not sit down there to eat and drink. 9I am the Lord who rules over all. I am the God of Israel. I am telling you, ‘In your days I will judge your people. You will see it with your own eyes. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness here in Jerusalem. The voices of brides and grooms will not be heard anymore.’
10“Tell these people all these things. They will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decided to send so much trouble on us? We haven’t done anything wrong. We haven’t committed any sins against the Lord our God.’ 11When they say this, here is what you should tell them. ‘I did it because your people of long ago deserted me,’ announces the Lord. ‘They followed other gods. They served them and worshiped them. They deserted me. They did not obey my law. 12But you have done more evil things than they did. All of you are doing what your stubborn and evil hearts want you to do. You are not obeying me. 13So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you away to another land. Neither you nor your people of long ago have known about it. There you will serve other gods day and night. And I will not give you any help.’
14“But a new day is coming,” announces the Lord. “At that time here is what people will no longer say. ‘As sure as he is alive, the Lord brought the Israelites up out of Egypt.’ 15Instead, they will say, ‘The Lord brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north. He gathered them out of all the countries where he had forced them to go. And that’s just as sure as he is alive.’ I will bring them back to the land I gave their people of long ago.
16“But now I will send for many fishermen,” announces the Lord. “They will catch some of these people. After that, I will send for many hunters. They will hunt down the others on every mountain and hill. They will bring them out of the cracks in the rocks. 17My eyes see everything these people do. What they do is not hidden from me. I always see their sin. 18I will pay them back double for their sin and the evil things they have done. They have made my land ‘unclean.’ They have set up lifeless statues of their evil gods. They have filled my land with them. I hate those gods.”
19Lord, you give me strength.
You are like a fort to me.
When I’m in trouble,
I go to you for safety.
The nations will come to you
from one end of the earth to the other.
They will gather together and say,
“Our people of long ago didn’t own anything
except statues of gods.
The statues were worthless.
They didn’t do them any good.
20Do human beings really make their own gods?
Yes. But they aren’t really gods at all!”
21The Lord says, “So I will teach them about myself.
This time I will show them
how powerful and mighty I am.
Then they will know
that I am the Lord.
