Jeremiah 16:2
in Jeremiah 16“You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place.
KJV
Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
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This verse in Jeremiah 16
Commentary
9 notes on this verseElijah lived a virgin life; so also did Elisha and many of the sons of the prophets. To Jeremiah the command came: "You will not take a wife." He had been sanctified in his mother's womb, and now he was forbidden to take a wife because the captivity was near. The apostle gives the same counsel in different words: "I think, therefore, that this is good by reason of the present distress, namely, that it is good for a person to be as he is." What is this distress that does away with the joys of wedlock?
This site's exposition
Then the word of the LORD came to me
on Jeremiah 16:1-4
The command “You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place” makes Jeremiah’s own life a sign of a ruin. The children born here will die of diseases, unmourned and unburied, their corpses “food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth”.
This site's exposition
You must not marry or have sons
The LORD forbids Jeremiah to marry. Barnes notes that marriage was a duty among the Jews, so the command marked a coming disaster great enough to set aside ordinary duties. Gill adds that the prophet would bear the distress alone more easily than with a wife and sons and daughters.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter XVI—Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Do not take a wife, and there shall not be sons and daughters for you in this place. If, in the time of impending captivity, the prophet is forbidden to take a wife, so as not to have the affliction of the flesh; and if he is also tormented by the sorrow of his own wife and the miseries of his children, how much more does the Apostle command (I Cor. VII) that, because the time is shortened and the consummation is at hand, even those who have wives should be as if they had none! Hence the superfluous reproach of the new heretics (Jovinians), by which we have taught that bigamy and trigamy do not come from the law, but from indulgence. For it is one thing to do what is good in itself, another to concede something so as not to do worse. For he himself gives the reasons why he wants young widows to marry, saying: For some of them have already gone astray after Satan (I Tim. 5:15). At the same time, as a teacher of self-control and perpetual chastity, he praises three or four marriages, which I will not so much call marriages as comforts for the wretched and the last hope for shipwrecked souls. Unless perhaps he grants indulgence to his Amazons, that they may experience the wars of desire until decrepit old age.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou shall not take thee a wife,.... Not because it was unlawful; for it was lawful for prophets to marry, and they did; but because it was not advisable, on account of the calamities and distresses which were coming upon the nation; which would be more bearable by him alone, than if he had a wife, which would increase his care, concern, and sorrow.
But Jeremiah must live a bachelor, not so much in honour of virginity as in diminution of it. By this it appears that it was advisable and seasonable only in calamitous times, and times of present distress, 1 Cor. vii. That it is so is a part of the calamity.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Those 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.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
As 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.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִקַּ֥ח | tikach | you must take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לְךָ֖ | lekha | for <the> yourself | ||
| אִשָּׁ֑ה | ʾishah | a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִהְי֤וּ | yihyu | they will belong | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְךָ֙ | lekha | to <the> you | ||
| בָּנִ֣ים | banim | sons | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וּבָנ֔וֹת | uvanot | and daughters | H1323 → | 588 times |
| בַּמָּק֖וֹם | bamakom | in the place | H4725 → | 401 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִקַּ֥חyou must take
tikachH3947 →966 times
לְךָ֖for <the> yourself
lekha
אִשָּׁ֑הa wife
ʾishahH802 →781 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִהְי֤וּthey will belong
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
לְךָ֙to <the> you
lekha
בָּנִ֣יםsons
banimH1121 →4930 times
וּבָנ֔וֹתand daughters
uvanotH1323 →588 times
בַּמָּק֖וֹםin the place
bamakomH4725 →401 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 23:29Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
it leads to
- Matthew 24:19
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 21:23–24
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
- Mark 13:17–19
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
- Matthew 24:19
Through
Matthew 24:19How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
it leads to
- Luke 23:29–30
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
- Deuteronomy 28:53–56
Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict…
- Luke 21:23
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
- Luke 23:29–30
Through
Luke 21:23How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
it leads to
- Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 4:10
Through
Genesis 19:14So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the…
it leads to
- Numbers 16:21
“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
- Numbers 16:21
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 22.21; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.