John Gill Commentary


John Gill Commentary
"Both great and 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;" — Jeremiah 16:6 (ASV)
Both the great and the small shall die in this land. The nobles as well as the common people, high and low, rich and poor; none shall be exempted from the grievous deaths by the sword, famine, and pestilence.
They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them; as before, (Jeremiah 16:4), this shall be the common case of them all; the great and the rich shall have no more care and notice taken of them than the poor:
nor cut themselves; their flesh, with their nails, or with knives, to show their grief for the dead, and to alleviate the sorrow of surviving friends, by bearing a part with them:
nor make themselves bald for them; by plucking off the hair of their heads, or by shaving them, and between their eyes; which though forbidden the Jews by the law of God, as being Heathenish customs, yet obtained in the times of Jeremiah, and were usually done; see (Deuteronomy 14:1).