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 this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their ^amothers who give birth to them, and their ^bfathers who father them in this land: 4 “They will ^adie of deadly diseases, they ^bwill not be mourned or buried; they will be like ^cdung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the ^dbirds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

5 For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house of ^amourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have ^bwithdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the LORD, “and My ^cfavor and compassion. 6 Both ^agreat people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone ^bmake cuts on himself or have his head ^cshaved for them. 7 People will not ^abreak 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 ^anot go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” 9 For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^aeliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

10 “Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘^aFor what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 Then you are to say to them, ‘It is ^abecause your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed ^bother gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law. 12 You too have done evil, even ^amore than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^bstubbornness of his own ^cevil heart, without listening to Me. 13 So I will ^ahurl you off this land to the ^bland which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will ^cserve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

14 “^aTherefore behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who ^bbrought 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 ^aland of the north and from all the lands where 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 ^afishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will ^bhunt them ^cfrom every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. 17 ^aFor My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, ^bnor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes. 18 I will first repay them ^adouble for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have ^bdefiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their ^cdetestable idols and their abominations.”