Jeremiah 7
7
False Trust in the Temple
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord#Jr 26:2 and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.
3“‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions,#Jr 4:18; 18:11; 26:13 and I will allow you to live in this place. 4Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 5Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,#7:5 Lit justly between a man and his neighbor#Jr 22:3 6if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow#Dt 19:10,13; 21:8–9; 2Kg 21:16; 24:4; Jr 22:3,17; 26:15; Mt 27:4 and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, 7I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors#Gn 12:7; Jos 1:2; Jr 30:3 long ago and forever. 8But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.
9“‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?#Ex 20:3–17; Lv 19:11–12; Dt 5:7–21; Ezk 18:5–9,14–18; 22:6–12; Hs 4:2 10Then do you come and stand before me in this house#Jr 32:34 that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”? 11Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers#Is 56:7; Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46 in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.#Ps 33:13–15; Ezk 8:12; Am 9:1–4
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Shiloh as a Warning
12“‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first.#Dt 12:11; 14:23; 16:6,11 See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13Now, because you have done all these things — this is the Lord’s declaration — and because I have spoken to you time and time again#7:13 Lit you rising early and speaking but you wouldn’t listen,#Jr 7:25; 11:7; 25:3; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14–15; 44:4 and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,#Pr 1:24; Is 65:12 14what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name,#Dt 12:5; 1Kg 9:7; Mk 13:2 the house in which you trust, the place that I gave you and your ancestors. 15I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’ #Dt 29:28; 2Kg 17
Do Not Pray for Judah
16“As for you, do not pray for these people.#Jr 11:14; 14:11–12; 15:1 Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me,#Gn 23:8; Ru 1:16; Jr 27:18 for I will not listen to you.#Ex 32:11–13,20–34; Jr 14:11; 15:1 17Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,#7:18 = a pagan goddess#Jr 44:17–19,25 and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. 19But are they really provoking me?” #Jb 35:6 This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”
20Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, my anger — my burning wrath — is about to be poured out on this place,#Jr 42:18; Lm 4:11 on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”#Nah 1:6
Obedience over Sacrifice
21This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,#Dt 12:4–28; Ps 50:13; Hs 8:13 22for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them#Hs 6:6 or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. 23However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’ #Dt 5:33 24Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention#Ps 81:11 but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.#Jr 15:6 25Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets#2Kg 9:7; 17:13; Jr 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; Ezk 38:17; Zch 1:6 to you time and time again.#7:25 Lit you, each day rising early and sending#2Ch 36:15–16; Jr 25:4 26However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;#Ex 32:9; Dt 9:6,13; 2Kg 17:14; Jr 17:23; 19:15 they did more evil than their ancestors.#1Kg 16:25; 2Kg 21:11
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27“When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth#7:28 Or Faithfulness has perished — it has disappeared from their mouths. 29Cut off the hair of your sacred vow#7:29 Lit off your consecration#Nm 6:1–8 and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,#Jr 3:2,21 for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’ #Is 2:6
30“For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things#Jr 4:1; 16:18; 32:34 in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.#2Kg 23:24 31They have built the high places of Topheth#7:31 Lit of the fireplace#2Kg 23:10; Jr 19:6,11–14 in Ben Hinnom Valley#7:31 A valley south of Jerusalem#Jos 15:8; Jr 19:5; 32:35 in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,#Lv 18:21; Dt 12:31; 2Kg 17:17,31; 2Ch 28:3; Jr 19:5; Ezk 16:21; 20:31; 23:25,37,47 a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.
32“Therefore, look, the days are coming”#Jr 16:14; 19:6; 23:5; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — the Lord’s declaration — “when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.#Jr 19:6 Topheth will become a cemetery,#7:32 Lit They will bury in Topheth because there will be no other burial place. 33The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.#Dt 28:26; Ps 79:2; Jr 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezk 29:5 34I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,#Jr 16:9; 25:10; 33:11 for the land will become a desolate waste.#Lv 26:31,33; Is 64:11; Jr 25:9,11,18; 27:17; 44:2,6,22
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Jeremiah 7: CSB
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Yirmeyahu (Jer) 7
7
1This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2“Stand at the gate of the house of Adonai and proclaim this word: ‘Listen to the word of Adonai, all you from Y’hudah who enter these gates to worship Adonai! 3Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “Improve your ways and actions, and I will let you stay in this place. 4Don’t rely on that deceitful slogan, ‘The temple of Adonai, the temple of Adonai — these [buildings] are the temple of Adonai.’ 5No, but if you really improve your ways and actions; if you really administer justice between people; 6if you stop oppressing foreigners, orphans and widows; if you stop shedding innocent blood in this place; and if you stop following other gods, to your own harm; 7then I will let you stay in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors forever and ever. 8Look! You are relying on deceitful words that can’t do you any good. 9First you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba‘al and go after other gods that you haven’t known. 10Then you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, ‘We are saved’ — so that you can go on doing these abominations! 11Do you regard this house, which bears my name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for myself what’s going on,” says Adonai. 12“Go to the place in Shiloh that used to be mine, that used to bear my name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Isra’el. 13I spoke to you again and again, but you wouldn’t listen. I called you, but you wouldn’t answer. Now,” says Adonai, “because you have done all these things, 14I will do to the house that bears my name, on which you rely, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, what I did to Shiloh; 15and I will drive you out of my presence, just as I drove out all your kinsmen, all the descendants of Efrayim.”’
16“So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don’t pray for this people! Don’t cry, pray or intercede on their behalf with me; because I won’t listen to you. 17Don’t you see what they are doing in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? 18The children gather the wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and, just to provoke me, they pour out drink offerings to other gods! 19Are they really provoking me,” asks Adonai, “or are they provoking themselves, to their own ruin?”
20Therefore, here is what Adonai Elohim says: “My anger and fury will be poured out on this place, on men, animals, trees in the fields and produce growing from the ground; and it will burn without being quenched.”
21Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el: “You may as well eat the meat of your burnt offerings along with that of your sacrifices. 22For I didn’t speak to your ancestors or give them orders concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. 23Rather, what I did order them was this: ‘Pay attention to what I say. Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. In everything, live according to the way that I order you, so that things will go well for you.’ 24But they neither listened nor paid attention, but lived according to their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, thus going backward and not forward. 25You have done this from the day your ancestors came out of Egypt until today. Even though I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them time after time, 26they would not listen or pay attention to me, but stiffened their necks; they did worse than their ancestors. 27So tell them all this; but they won’t listen to you; likewise, call to them; but they won’t answer you. 28Therefore, say to them,
‘This is the nation that has not listened
to the voice of Adonai their God.
They won’t take correction; faithfulness has perished;
it has vanished from their mouths.
29Cut off your hair, and throw it away,
take up a lament on the bare hills,
for Adonai has rejected and abandoned
the generation that rouses his anger.’
30“For the people of Y’hudah have done what is evil from my perspective,” says Adonai; “they have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, to defile it. 31They have built the high places of Tofet in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, something I never ordered; in fact, such a thing never even entered my mind! 32Therefore, the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when it will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter — they will put the dead in Tofet, because there will be no space left [anywhere else]. 33The corpses of this people will become food for the birds in the air and the wild animals; no one will frighten them away. 34Then in the cities of Y’hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride; because the land will be reduced to ruins.
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