Jeremiah 7
7
Trusting in Lying Words
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2#Jer. 17:19; 26:2“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #Jer. 4:1; 18:11; 26:13“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4#Jer. 7:8; Mic. 3:11Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
5“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly #1 Kin. 6:12; Jer. 21:12; 22:3execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, #Deut. 6:14, 15; Jer. 13:10or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7#Deut. 4:40then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in #Jer. 3:18the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8“Behold, you trust in #Jer. 5:31; 14:13, 14lying words that cannot profit. 9#1 Kin. 18:21; Hos. 4:1, 2; Zeph. 1:5Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and #Ex. 20:3; Jer. 7:6; 19:4walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10#Ezek. 23:39and then come and stand before Me in this house #Jer. 7:11, 14; 32:34; 34:15which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11Has #Is. 56:7this house, which is called by My name, become a #Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
12“But go now to #Josh. 18:1; Judg. 18:31My place which was in Shiloh, #Deut. 12:11where I set My name at the first, and see #1 Sam. 4:10; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, #2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 11:7rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I #Prov. 1:24; Is. 65:12; 66:4called you, but you did not answer, 14therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to #1 Sam. 4:10, 11; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6, 9Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, #2 Kin. 17:23as I have cast out all your brethren—#Ps. 78:67; Hos. 7:13; 9:13; 12:1the whole posterity of Ephraim.
16“Therefore #Ex. 32:10; Deut. 9:14; Jer. 11:14do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; #Jer. 15:1for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18#Jer. 44:17The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they #Jer. 19:13pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19#Deut. 32:16, 21Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
20Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #Is. 1:11; Jer. 6:20; Hos. 8:13; Amos 5:21, 22“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22#1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; (Hos. 6:6)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23But this is what I commanded them, saying, #Ex. 15:26; 16:32; Deut. 6:3‘Obey My voice, and #(Ex. 19:5, 6); Lev. 26:12; (Jer. 11:4; 13:11)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24#Ps. 81:11; Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but #Deut. 29:19; Jer. 9:14followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and #Jer. 32:33went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even #2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 25:4; 29:19; Mark 12:1–10; Luke 11:47–49sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26#Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but #Neh. 9:17stiffened their neck. #Jer. 16:12; Matt. 23:32They did worse than their fathers.
27“Therefore #Jer. 1:7; 26:2; 37:14, 15; 43:1–4; Ezek. 2:7you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Judgment on Obscene Religion
28“So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God #Jer. 5:3nor receive correction. #Jer. 9:3Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29#Job 1:20; Is. 15:2; Jer. 48:37; Mic. 1:16Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. #2 Kin. 21:4; 2 Chr. 33:3–5, 7; Jer. 32:34, 35; Ezek. 7:20; Dan. 9:27; 11:31“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31And they have built the #2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:5; 32:35high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to #Lev. 18:21; 2 Kin. 17:17; Ps. 106:38burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, #Deut. 17:3which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32“Therefore behold, #Jer. 19:6the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; #2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:11for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33The #Jer. 9:22; 19:11; Ezek. 6:5corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause to #Is. 24:7, 8; Jer. 16:9; 25:10; Ezek. 26:13; Hos. 2:11; Rev. 18:23cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For #Lev. 26:33; Is. 1:7; Jer. 4:27the land shall be desolate.
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Jeremiah 7: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 7
7
Jeremiah Speaks in the Temple
(Jeremiah 26.1-6)
1-3The Lord told me to stand by the gate of the temple#7.1-3 temple: The Hebrew text has “house of the Lord,” another name for the temple. and tell the people who were going in that the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said:
Pay attention, people of Judah! Change your ways and start living right, then I will let you keep on living in your own country.#7.1-3 let you … own country: Or “live here with you.” 4Don't fool yourselves! My temple is here in Jerusalem, but that doesn't mean I will protect you. 5I will keep you safe only if you change your ways and are fair and honest with each other. 6Stop taking advantage of foreigners, orphans, and widows. Don't kill innocent people. And stop worshiping other gods. 7Then I will let you enjoy a long life in this land I gave your ancestors.
8But just look at what is happening! You put your trust in worthless lies. 9You steal and murder; you lie in court and are unfaithful in marriage. You worship idols and offer incense to Baal, when these gods have never done anything for you. 10And then you come into my temple and worship me! Do you think I will protect you so that you can go on sinning? 11#Mt 21.13; Mk 11.17; Lk 19.46. You are thieves, and you have made my temple your hideout. But I've seen everything you have done.
12 #
Js 18.1; Ps 78.60; Jr 26.6. Go to Shiloh, where my sacred tent once stood. Take a look at what I did there. My people Israel sinned, and so I destroyed Shiloh!
13While you have been sinning, I have been trying to talk to you, but you refuse to listen. 14Don't think this temple will protect you. Long ago I told your ancestors to build it and worship me here, but now I have decided to tear it down, just as I destroyed Shiloh. 15And as for you, people of Judah, I'm going to send you away from my land, just as I sent away the people of Ephraim and the other northern tribes.
Punishment for Worshiping Other Gods
16Jeremiah, don't pray for these people! I, the Lord, would refuse to listen. 17Do you see what the people of Judah are doing in their towns and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18#Jr 44.17-19. Children gather firewood, their fathers build fires, and their mothers mix dough to bake bread for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven.#7.18 Queen of Heaven: Probably another name for the goddess Astarte. They even offer wine sacrifices to other gods, just to insult me. 19But they are not only insulting me; they are also harming themselves by doing these shameful things.
20And now, I, the Lord All-Powerful, will flood Judah with my fiery anger until nothing is left—no people or animals, no trees or crops.
It Is Useless To Offer Sacrifices
21The Lord told me to say to the people of Judah:
I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, but I won't accept sacrifices from you. So don't even bother bringing them to me. You might as well just cook the meat for yourselves.
22At the time I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I didn't command them to offer sacrifices to me. 23Instead, I told them, “If you listen to me and do what I tell you, I will be your God, you will be my people, and all will go well for you.” 24But your ancestors refused to listen. They were stubborn, and whenever I wanted them to go one way, they always went the other. 25Ever since your ancestors left Egypt, I have been sending my servants the prophets to speak for me. 26But you have ignored me and become even more stubborn and sinful than your ancestors ever were!
Slaughter Valley
The Lord said:
27Jeremiah, no matter what you do, the people won't listen. 28So you must say to them:
People of Judah, I am the Lord your God, but you have refused to obey me, and you didn't change when I punished you. And now, you no longer even pretend to be faithful to me.
29Shave your head bald
and throw away the hair.
Sing a funeral song
on top of a barren hill.
You people have made me angry,
and I have abandoned you.
30You have disobeyed me by putting your disgusting idols in my temple, and now the temple itself is disgusting to me. 31#2 K 23.10; Jr 32.35; Lv 18.21. At Topheth in Hinnom Valley you have built altars where you kill your children and burn them as sacrifices to other gods. I would never think of telling you to do this. 32So watch out! Someday that place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. It will be called Slaughter Valley, because you will bury your dead there until you run out of room, 33and then bodies will lie scattered on the ground. Birds and wild animals will come and eat, and no one will be around to scare them off. 34#Jr 16.9; 25.10; Ba 2.23; Rev 18.23. When I am finished with your land, there will be deathly silence in the empty ruins of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah—no happy voices, no sounds of parties or wedding celebrations.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.