Jeremiah 7:16-34

“Therefore, do not pray for this people [of Judah] or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may offend and provoke Me to anger. Do they offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the LORD. “Is it not themselves [they offend], to their own shame?” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing I did command them: ‘Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have [persistently] sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early [and late]. Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers. “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall [also] call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction and warning; truth and faithfulness have perished and have completely vanished from their mouths. ‘Cut off your hair [your crown, O Jerusalem] and throw it away, And take up a mournful cry on the barren heights, For the LORD has rejected and abandoned The generation of His wrath.’ For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the LORD; “they have set their disgusting and shamefully vile things in the house which is called by My Name, to defile it. They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [to honor Molech, the fire god]—which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind). [Lev 18:21; Josh 15:8; 2 Kin 16:2, 3; 21:1, 6; Is 30:33] “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, for [in bloody warfare] they will bury [the dead] in Topheth until there is no more room. [Jer 19:6] And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth and no one will frighten them away. Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to vanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will become a ruin—a wasteland.