Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for them.
Parallel Translations
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Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for them.
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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:
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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;
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 16:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 14:1 You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Jeremiah 41:5 men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to Yahweh’s house.
- Jeremiah 47:5 Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
- Leviticus 19:28 “ ‘You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am Yahweh.
- Isaiah 22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;
- Jeremiah 48:37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
- Isaiah 9:14-17 Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day. The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Isaiah 24:2 It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
- Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
- Jeremiah 13:13 Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
- Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”
- Jeremiah 22:18-19 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’ He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
- Ezekiel 9:5-6 To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity. Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
- Revelation 6:15 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
- Amos 6:11 “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
- Revelation 20:12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He pursues the same subject: he says that all…
He pursues the same subject: he says that all would die indiscriminately, the common people as well as the chief men, that none would be exempt from destruction; for God would make a great slaughter, both of the lower orders and also of the higher, who excelled in wealth, in honor, and dignity; Die shall the great and the small. It often happens in changes that the great are punished; and sometimes the case is that the common people perish, while the nobles are spared: but God declares, that such would be the destruction, that their enemies would make no difference between the common people and the higher ranks, and that if they escaped the hands of their enemies, the pestilence or the famine would prove their ruin.
He adds, They shall not bury them, nor beat their breast for them; and then, they shall not eat themselves, nor make themselves bald for them This is not mentioned by the Prophet to commend what the people did; nor did he consider that in this respect they observed the command of the law; for God had forbidden them to imitate the corrupt customs of the heathens. (Leviticus 21:1) We have already said, that the orientals were much given to external ceremonies, so that there was no moderation in their lamentations: therefore God intended to correct this excess. But the Prophet here has no respect to the command, that the Jews were to moderate their grief, — what then? He meant to shew, as I have already reminded you, that the slaughters would be so great, that they — would cause hardness and insensibility, being so immense as to stun the feelings of men. When any one dies, friends and neighbors meet, and shew respect to his memory; but when pestilence prevails, or when all perish by famine, the greater part become hardened and unmindful of themselves and others, and the offices of humanity are no longer observed. God then shews, that such would be the devastation of the land, that the Jews, as though callous and hardened, would no longer lament for one another. In short, he shews, that together with these dreadful slaughters, such insensibility and hardness would prevail among the Jews, that no husband would think of his wife, and no father of his children; but that all of them would be so astonied by their own evils as to become like the wild beasts.
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He says further, They shall not cut themselves nor pull off their hairs, as they had used to do. These things are mentioned, as they were commonly done; it cannot be hence concluded, that they were approved by God; for God’s design was not to pronounce a judgment on their lamentation, on the tearing off of the hair, or on their incisions. It is indeed certain that these practices proceeded from the impetuous feelings of men, and were tokens of impatience; but as I have said, God does not speak here of what was lawful, but of what men were wont to do.
As to that part, where he says, that he had taken away his kindness and his mercies, he does not mean that he had changed his nature, but his object was to cut off occasion from all who might complain; for men, we know, whenever God’s hand presses hard on them, to make them to deplore rightly their miseries, are stifficiently ready to say, that God visits them with too much severity. He therefore shews that they were unworthy of kindness and mercies. At the same time he reminded them that there was no reason for hypocrites to entertain any hope, because Scripture so often commends the kindness of God and his mercy; for since they accumulated sins on sins, God could not do otherwise than come to an extremity with them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, should not rent their clothes in sign…
That is, should not rent their clothes in sign of mourning.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 16:6 Both the great and the small shall…
Jer 16:6 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:
Ver. 6. Both the great and the small shall die.] Princes and peasants, lords and lowlies together.
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Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald.] Neque caedetur neque calvabitur. This they had learned of the heathen, and would needs use it, though flatly forbidden them. {Lev 19:27-28 Deu 14:1} Now they were told that they should have little either lust or leisure to do any such matter.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There shall so many of all ranks and sizes…
There shall so many of all ranks and sizes die in this land, that men shall have no time to bury them, or there shall not be enough left living to bury the dead; nor shall men, for their own miseries, have leisure to lament for the miseries of other men. Cutting themselves in their flesh, and cutting off their hair, were pagan customs, which God forbade his own people; but yet it should seem they practised these barbarous customs; but saith God, I will put an end to that practice, men shall die so fast and in such multitudes, as they shall have no leisure to cut themselves for such as are dead, they shall not have such solemn mournings as they have had.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Neither shall men tear themselves,.... Either their flesh, or…
Neither shall men tear themselves,.... Either their flesh, or their clothes: or, "stretch out" (y); that is, their hands, and clap them together, and wring them, as persons in great distress do: or "divide", or "break", or "deal unto them" (z); that is, bread, as at their funeral feasts. Thus the Septuagint version, neither shall bread be broken in their mourning; and to the same sense the Targum; so the word is used in Isa 63:7, a practice that obtained among the Heathens; see Deu 26:14 and now with the Jews, as it seems: which they did
for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; they used to carry or send food to the surviving relations, and went and ate with them, in order to comfort them for the loss of their friends; but this now would not be done, not because an Heathenish custom, but because they would have no heart nor leisure for it: see Eze 24:17.
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Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother: not give them a cup of good liquor to comfort and cheer their spirits, overwhelmed with sorrow, on account of the death of a father or mother; which was wont to be done, but now should be omitted; the calamity would be so great, and so universal, that there would be none to do such offices as these; see Pro 31:6.
(y) "et non expandent, sub. manus suas", Vatablus, Montanus; "extendent", Pagninus, Calvin. So Kimchi and Ben Melech. (z) "Non divident", Tigurine version; "neque impertientur, sub. cibum", Junius & Tremellius; "partientur panem", Piscator; "neque cibum dabunt", Schmidt. So Jarchi, Joseph Kimchi, and Abarbinel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Nor cut - Cutting themselves and cutting off their…
Nor cut - Cutting themselves and cutting off their hair, were Pagan customs, which God forbad his own people; but yet it seemed they practiced them: but saith God, Men shall die so fast that they shall have no leisure to cut themselves.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Nor cut themselves] A custom of the…
Verse 6. Nor cut themselves] A custom of the heathen forbidden to the Jews, Le 19:28; De 14:1, and which appears now to have prevailed among them; because, having become idolaters, they conformed to all the customs of the heathen. They tore their hair, rent their garments, cut their hands, arms, and faces. These were not only signs of sorrow, but were even supposed to give ease to the dead, and appease the angry deities. The Hindoos, on the death of a relation, express their grief by loud lamentations, and not unfrequently bruise themselves in an agony of grief with whatever they can lay hold on.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Cut themselves ... make themselves bald - Both these…
Cut themselves ... make themselves bald - Both these practices were strictly forbidden in the Law (marginal references) probably as being pagan customs, but they seem to have remained in common use. By “making bald” is meant shaving a bare patch on the front of the head.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cut. Moses prohibited this being done in honour of…
Cut. Moses prohibited this being done in honour of Adonis, Leviticus xix. 27., Deuteronomy xiv. 1., and Ezechiel xxvii. 31. "The custom of cutting the arms and hair still subsists in Judea," says St. Jerome; and in other countries. (Plut.[Plutarch?] Herodotus iv. 71.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain cut themselves--indicating extravagant grief (Jer 41:5; Jer 47:5), prohibited…
cut themselves--indicating extravagant grief (Jer 41:5; Jer 47:5), prohibited by the law (Lev 19:28).
bald-- (Jer 7:29; Isa 22:12).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Nor cut themselves… make themselves bald — Forms…
6. Nor cut themselves… make themselves bald — Forms of mourning strictly forbidden in the law, (see Lev_19:28; Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1,) but, as it would seem, much practised. See Jer_7:29; Jer_41:5; Isa_22:12; Eze_7:18, etc., etc.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald] practices…
6. nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald] practices common among semi-civilized races. For both together, as here, cp. Jer_47:5; for the former, Jer_41:5, and perhaps (see C.B.) Hos_7:14; for the latter, Isa_3:24; Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12; Eze_7:18; Amo_8:10; Mic_1:16. They are forbidden Lev_19:28; Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1. The former of these practices represented the custom of human sacrifices as a propitiation to the spirit of the departed. Herodotus (IV. 71) describes the funeral rites of a Scythian king as requiring no less than six human victims.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald.—Both practices…
(6) Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald.—Both practices were forbidden by the Law (Lev_19:28; Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1), probably in order to draw a line of demarcation between Israel and the nations round, among whom such practices prevailed (1Ki_18:28). Both, however, seem to have been common, and probably had gained in frequency under Ahaz and Manasseh (Jer_7:29; Jer_41:5; Eze_7:18; Amo_8:10; Mic_1:16). The “baldness” (i.e., shaving the crown of the head) seems to have been the more common of the two.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald. Both practices…
Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald. Both practices are forbidden in the Law, (Deu_14:1 Lev_19:28 Lev_21:5) but the prohibition was at any rate unknown to the masses. (see, for the former, Jer_41:5 Jer_47:5; and for the latter, Jer_47:5 Isa_22:12, "The Lord Jehovah called... to baldness;" Amo_8:10 Mic_1:16 Eze_7:18) St. Jerome remarks, and incidentally gives a valuable evidence of the tenacity of primitive customs, "Mos hic fuit apud veteres, et usque hodie in quibusdam permanet Judaerum, ut in luctibus incidant lacertos," etc.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.