16:1–4a The opening note that “the word of the Lord came” (v. 1) to Jeremiah shows that he has repented of his reckless speech against God (cf. 15:18) and has been restored to his position as a divine mouthpiece (cf. 15:19). Yahweh’s messenger again becomes the message when Jeremiah is prohibited from getting married and having children (16:2), “you” here being singular in Hebrew. His deprived life is a symbol of how exile brings death to Judah’s families through disease, sword, and famine (vv. 3–4a). This description of the horrible fate to be suffered by fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters “in this place” (a reference to Jerusalem; vv. 2, 9; cf. v. 3) contrasts sharply with the exiles in Babylon, whom Yahweh will direct to engage in normal family activities such as marriage and childbearing (29:6).

16:4b–9 The indignity of those who are punished will continue after their death. Nobody will mourn or bury them, leaving their corpses to become food for scavengers (v. 4b–e). This will be due not only to Judah’s dead being too numerous (v. 6), but all the more because Yahweh prohibits the living from lamenting the dead (v. 5) or even comforting one another (v. 7). As in Ezekiel’s injunction against mourning for the destroyed temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24), the normal human response of empathy as seen in a “cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother” (Jer. 16:7) would generate too much self-pity and distract from the fact that the people are to blame for their own demise. Similarly, for Judah to experience happiness in the “house of feasting” (v. 8) would be just as counterproductive for Yahweh’s purposes as sadness in the “house of mourning” would be (cf. v. 5). He will therefore put an end to every joyful sound, most notably the happiness of bride and groom on their wedding day (v. 9).

16:10–13 Yahweh anticipates that these harsh words through Jeremiah will be puzzling to Judah. Despite prophets through the centuries faithfully warning the Israelite kingdoms of judgment, the Judah of Jeremiah’s time still wonders: “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” (v. 10). For Judah to attribute “this great evil” to Yahweh slanders his character, while to claim to be innocent and free from “iniquity” and “sin” excuses their own character from many sins of immorality, injustice, and idolatry (cf. 7:4–10). The people of Yahweh are sincere but tragically mistaken in their belief that they are unworthy of judgment.

Jeremiah is directed by Yahweh to refute such self-deception with a history lesson. Against his people’s delusions, the prophet must point out to his hearers that Israel and Judah have exhibited a long pattern of forsaking Yahweh. Following other gods was characteristic not only of their ancestors (v. 11) but even more of “every one” of his current hearers who “follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen” to Yahweh (v. 12). The only recourse for a people whose will is fixated on evil is, ironically, to give them exactly what they want. Infatuation with foreign gods will be cured by the homeopathic remedy of sending Judah into a foreign land to venerate such gods constantly (v. 13)—and to realize too late the empty promises of these gods, about which the prophets had continuously reminded Israel and Judah (cf. Isa. 44:9–20; Hos. 14:3).

16:14–18 Having mentioned the nations briefly, the passage now takes a longer look at their role as witnesses of Yahweh’s work, not merely agents of divine punishment. The nations’ own relationship to the God of Israel is of utmost importance, since he is also the God of the whole world (cf. Jer. 10:11). Previously these nations knew Yahweh’s reputation as the mighty God of the exodus (16:14), much as Rahab (Josh. 2:10) and the Philistines did (1 Sam. 6:6). Following the exile, however, the nations will recognize that he is also the God of exile and restoration (Jer. 16:15).

The nations are probably still the audience in verses 16–18 when Yahweh employs several word-pictures to explain how Judah’s restoration from exile is to take place. The vast reach of Yahweh’s vision and power toward the exiles can be expressed only with a combination of images. In two animal images (v. 16) the people of Judah are portrayed as fish brought in by fishermen as well as prey found in their hiding places by hunters. Switching to a human image (v. 17), Yahweh explains that his supernatural eyes see every “iniquity” of his people—in stark contrast to the people, who still fail to perceive their own “iniquity” (cf. v. 10, where the same Hb. term occurs). And in another pointed response to clueless Judah, Yahweh declares that he must punish Judah for the “iniquity” and “sin” (cf. v. 10) of using idols to pollute and desecrate his land (v. 18; cf. Lev. 18:25–28; Ezek. 36:17–18). The people of Yahweh can no longer remain as tenants in Canaan since they have failed to abide by the statutes given by the holy Owner of this inheritance (cf. Deut. 4:25–27; 12:1).

16:19–21 By now it is clear that Yahweh’s mighty dealings with Judah occur on an international stage, as the eyes of the nations are watching. In keeping with his calling as a “prophet to the nations” (1:5), Jeremiah responds with a poetic interjection that other peoples will recognize that their gods are inferior to the God of Israel. The dreadful exile to come drives Jeremiah to declare interrelated truths of a personal and corporate nature: Yahweh is both “[his] strength and [his] stronghold, [his] refuge in the day of trouble” for the prophet himself as well as the true King for all nations, beckoning them to renounce their own deities as “worthless things in which there is no profit” (16:19; cf. ch. 10). Yahweh’s homeopathic remedy of using idols to judge Judah for idolatry will have the effect of showing the nations that he is superior to their gods and goddesses.

In sum the fact that Judah is being punished for worshiping the gods of the nations impels these same nations to turn toward Yahweh instead. He is the mighty God of the exodus, who declares that his future deeds will also bring honor to himself, much like the purpose of delivering Israel in the exodus was to make his incomparable power known to both Israelites and Egyptians (e.g., Ex. 8:10, 19; 9:14). Yahweh’s intent toward the nations is again to “make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord” (Jer. 16:21).