Jeremiah 16:10

MORE REASONS FOR SUCH PENALTIES

"And it shall come to pass when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God? thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me: therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor."

Ash noted that, "The verbs used here were part of the distinctive vocabulary used to describe the breach of the covenant."[13] Significantly, however, it was not merely the breach of that holy covenant by the forefathers of Israel that led to their deportation from Canaan; but that current generation also had sinned even beyond the outrageous behavior of their ancestors.

"There shall ye serve other gods day and night ..." (Jeremiah 16:13). "The form of the sentence here is ironical."[14] A number of writers have attempted to convey the irony as follows: "They will have the opportunity of indulging their desire for pagan worship day and night (continually), for God will ignore them."[15] "There you may serve those idols you are so mad about, even to satiety, and without intermission (day and night)."[16]

"I will cast you forth out of this land ..." (Jeremiah 16:13). Green pointed out that the word here for "cast out" is actually "hurl out," and thus a clever play upon the name of Jeremiah.[17] The kind of hurling mentioned here was that of placing a stone in a sling, releasing it after hurling it round and round. It was used here as a metaphor for the violent removal of God's Once Chosen People from Palestine.