1. The Lord’s word came to me:
2. Don’t marry or have children in this place.
3. This is what the Lord proclaims concerning children who are born in this place and their mothers and fathers who give birth to them in this place:
4. They will die of horrible diseases.No one will mourn for them or bury them.They will be like refuse lying on the ground.They will die from the sword and by famine,and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.
5. This is what the Lord says:Don’t enter a house where there is mourning;don’t grieve or lament for them,for I have taken away my blessing, kindness, and mercy from this people,declares the Lord.
6. From the least to the greatest,all will die in this land,and there will be no funerals or time of mourning.No one will gash themselves in griefor shave their heads in sorrow.
7. No one will bring food for the mourneras comfort for the dead.No one will offer a cup of consolationfor the loss of father or mother.
8. Don’t enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.
9. This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:Before your very eyes and in your own lifetime, I will silence in this place the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride.
10. When you proclaim all these things to the people, and they ask you, "Why has the Lord pronounced such massive devastation against us? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the Lord our God?"
11. then you should tell them: It’s because your ancestors have deserted me and followed other gods, declares the Lord. They have served and worshipped them, while abandoning me and refusing to keep my Instruction.
12. And you, you have acted worse than your ancestors, each of you following your own willful, evil hearts and paying no attention to me.
13. So I will banish you from this land to a place that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.
14. But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt";