God’s Word Translation
Jeremiah 16:2
2“Don’t marry! Don’t have any sons or daughters in this place!
Jeremiah 16:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
- New International Version (NIV)“You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)"You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
Context of Jeremiah 16:2
1The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, “Don’t marry! Don’t have any sons or daughters in this place! 3This is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this place and about the mothers and fathers who have children in this land: 4They will die horrible deaths. No one will mourn for them or bury them. They will be like manure on the ground. Wars and famines will bring them to an end. Their bodies will be food for birds and animals.
Read all of Jeremiah 16Jeremiah 16:2 word by word
לֹֽא־תִקַּ֥ח לְךָ֖ אִשָּׁ֑ה וְלֹֽא־יִהְי֤וּ לְךָ֙ בָּנִ֣ים וּבָנ֔וֹת בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 16:2
- Genesis 19:14So Lot went out and spoke to the men engaged to his daughters. He said, “Hurry! Get out of this place, because the Lord is going to destroy the city.” But they thought he was joking.
- Matthew 24:19“How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days.
- Luke 21:23“How horrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days. Indeed, the land will suffer very hard times, and its people will be punished.
- Luke 23:29The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who couldn’t get pregnant, who couldn’t give birth, and who couldn’t nurse a child.’
- 1 Corinthians 7:26Because of the present crisis I believe it is good for people to remain as they are.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 16:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Those shalt not take thee a wife - As it would be very inconvenient to have a family when the threatened desolations should come on the place. The reason is given in the following verses.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2As marriage was obligatory upon the Jews, the prohibition of it to Jeremiah was a sign that the impending calamity was so great as to override all ordinary duties. Jeremiah was unmarried, but the force of the sign lay in its being an exception to the ordinary practice of the prophets. In this place - The whole of Judaea.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-2In Hebrew society, bachelors were uncommon, and males were expected to marry in their early twenties. However, the severe crisis of the time required Jeremiah to serve as a divine messenger without family obligations. He needed to rely completely on the Lord (compare 1 Corinthians 7:26–35).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-212. in this place--in Judea. The direction to remain single was (whether literally obeyed, or only in prophetic vision) to symbolize the coming calamities of the Jews (Eze 24:15-27) as so severe that the single state would be then (contrary to the ordinary course of things) preferable to the married (compare 1Co 7:8, 26, 29; Mt 24:19; Lu 23:29).Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 16:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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