161 The word of the Lord also came to me saying , 2 "You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place ." 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place , and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land : 4 "They will die of deadly diseases , they will not be lamented or buried ; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine , and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth ." 5 For thus says the Lord , "Do not enter a house of mourning , or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people ," declares the Lord , "My lovingkindness and compassion . 6 "Both great men and small will die in this land ; they will not be buried , they will not be lamented , nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them. 7 "Men will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead , nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone's father or mother . 8 "Moreover you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink ." 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : "Behold , I am going to eliminate from this place , before your eyes and in your time , the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness , the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride .
10 "Now when you tell this people all these words , they will say to you, ' For what reason e has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity , or what is our sin which we have committed against the Lord our God ?' 11 "Then you are to say to them, 'It is because e your forefathers have forsaken Me,' declares the Lord , 'and have followed e other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law . 12 'You too have done evil , even more than your forefathers ; for behold , you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart , without listening to Me. 13 'So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known , neither you nor your fathers ; and there you will serve other gods day and night , for I will grant you no favor .'
14 " Therefore behold , days are coming ," declares the Lord , "when it will no longer be said , 'As the Lord lives , who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt ,' 15 but, 'As the Lord lives , who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where e He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers . 16 "Behold , I am going to send for many fishermen ," declares the Lord , "and they will fish for them; and afterwards e I will send for many hunters , and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks . 17 " For My eyes are on all their ways ; they are not hidden from My face , nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes . 18 "I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin , because they have polluted My land ; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations ." 19 O Lord , my strength and my stronghold , And my refuge in the day of distress , To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say , "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood , Futility and things of no profit ." 20 Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods ! 21 "Therefore behold , I am going to make them know - This time I will make them know My power and My might ; And they shall know that My name is the Lord ."
