en_tn_condensed/jer/16/19.md

# Yahweh, you are my stronghold

Here Jeremiah begins speaking to Yahweh. The ULB sets poetry (16:19-21) farther to the right to show that it is poetry. The poem continues in chapter 17, and should be seen as one section.

# my stronghold and my refuge, my place of safety

Jeremiah speaks of Yahweh as a place where enemies cannot attack him.

# The nations will go to you

"The people from the nations will go to you" or "The people of the nations will come to you"

# the ends of the earth

"the farthest places on the earth" or "everywhere on earth"

# our ancestors inherited deceit

"our ancestors inherited nothing but false gods" 

# They are empty; there is no profit in them

The words "They" and "them" refer to the false gods that the ancestors taught them to believe in.