Jeremiah 16 · Grade 5

My Strength and My Stronghold

Name Date

Read and Think

Jeremiah 16 is a sobering chapter. God told Jeremiah not to take a wife or have children in this place, because the coming judgment would bring grievous deaths. He was not to enter the house of mourning, because God had taken away his peace, even loving kindness and tender mercies, from this people. Nor was he to join the house of feasting. Jeremiah's lonely life became a living sermon about what was coming.

The reason was plain. Each generation had done worse than the one before, walking in the stubbornness of an evil heart. God declared that his eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. God spoke of sending fishermen and hunters to search them out, a picture of judgment no one could escape.

Yet the chapter contains a bright promise. The days were coming when people would no longer speak of the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, but of the God who brought them from the land of the north and from all the countries where he had driven them. Jeremiah answered with a confession of faith. Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction. He foresaw nations confessing that their fathers had inherited nothing but lies, and asking whether a man can make gods which are no gods.

Show What You Know

What had God taken away from the people?
What did the fishermen and hunters picture?
How would the return from the north compare to the exodus?
What would the nations confess?

Crossword

Across

And concerning their fathers who became their father in this ____.
And my ____ in the day of affliction.

Down

There you will serve other ____ day and night.
Our ____ have inherited nothing but lies.
The ____ of mirth and the voice of gladness.

Think About It

Jeremiah's singleness was part of his calling. How can different life paths serve God?
Jeremiah called God his refuge in the day of affliction. Where do people look for refuge today?

Memory Verse

Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

Jeremiah 16:19 (WEB)

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Prayer

Dear God, thank You for bringing Your people home. Help me . Amen.

Take It Home

For families: talk about these together.

What are gods that are no gods?
Where do you go when you need to feel safe?
What is one way you could live out this chapter this week?