1 The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3 For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
5 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.
6 Both the great and the 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:
7 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.
8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?
11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
15 But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
19 O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.
<html><b>house of mourning</b> feasting. In Sifrei, in the section dealing with Beth-peor (Balak), I saw. They returned to make feasts (מַרְזֵיחִין) for them, but our Rabbis explained מַרְזֵחַ as ‘a mourner.’ <b>you bemoan</b> you shall lament. <b>for I have gathered in My peace, etc.</b> When their father Abraham performed charity and justice, I gave his children loving-kindness and mercy, as in Deut. 7:12: “And the Lord your God shall keep for you the covenant and the loving-kindness, etc.” Also (Deut. 13:18), “And He shall give you mercy.” They turned “justice into wormwood, and cast righteousness to the ground” (Amos 5:7). I, too, have returned and gathered in to Me My loving-kindness and My mercies. <b>I have gathered in</b> (ote in O.F.), taken off. Comp. (Gen. 30:23) “God has gathered (אסף) in my disgrace.”</html>
<html><b>And large and small shall die</b> And since everyone will die, why should you lament? <b>and they shall not cut their flesh nor shall they tear their hair for them</b> It is the custom of mourners to cut and tear their flesh and to tear their hair our of their head. In any case, it is forbidden for Jews, but he mentions it here only as an example of mourning.</html>
<html><b>And they shall not break [bread] for them</b> an expression of breaking. Comp. (Dan. 5:25) “Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin, (divided).” This alludes to the practice of giving a meal to the mourners in the city square and they break for them the bread upon reciting the blessing of ‘hamotzi.’ (I Sam. 9: 13) “For he will bless the sacrifices,” Jonathan renders: He will break (פָרִיס) bread. <b>neither will they give them to drink etc</b> This is the reason for what I said, “Neither go to lament.”</html>
<html><b>And to a house of feasting</b> that I said to you above, “You shall not go,” this is the reason: Behold, I will cut off from this place, etc.</html>
<html><b>and you will serve there other gods</b> Jonathan paraphrases: And you will serve there nations that worship idols day and night.</html>
<html><b>Therefore</b> An expression of an oath. Although you betrayed Me, I have an oath that I will redeem you. <b>and it shall no longer be said</b> Our Rabbis expounded: Not that the departure from Egypt shall be uprooted from its place, but the final redemption will be the most important and the departure from Egypt secondary to it.</html>
<html><b>and they will fish them</b> Just as the fisher takes - it i.e., - the fish from its habitat, so will these capture them within the city, and just as the manner of a fish, that when he is caught he dies, so will I bring killers upon them, and afterwards I will send hunters for the survivors and for those who flee from the sword to the mountains and the hills, and they will hunt them to exile them in captivity.</html>
<html><b>the doubling of their iniquity</b> Because they repeated their iniquity to do the iniquities of their fathers. And Jonathan renders in this manner: And I will recompense the second ones like the first ones double.</html>
<html><b>and my refuge</b> (mon vantement in French), my boast. And Menahem (Machbereth p. 123) classified it as an expression of a wonder. Cf. (Psalms 60:6) “You have given those who fear You a wonder to be wondrous (נֵס לְהִתְנוֹסֵס).” <b>to You nations will come</b> Eventually, the heathens will come to you and worship You of one accord, and they will say, “How did they make gods for themselves, and they are no gods?” <b>from the ends of</b> Like מִקְצֵה, from the end of. <b>handed down</b> an expression of an inheritance. <b>avail</b> an expression of use (תּוֹעֶלֶת).</html>
<html><b>that My name is the Lord</b> As its apparent meaning, a ruler and a sovereign to fulfill My decree.</html>