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 to 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. Be fair and honest with each other. 6Stop taking advantage of foreigners, orphans, and widows. Don't kill innocent people. And stop worshipping 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? 11You are thieves, and you have made my temple your hideout. But I've seen everything you have done.#Mt 21.13; Mk 11.17; Lk 19.46.
12Go 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!#Js 18.1; Ps 78.60; Jr 26.6.
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 worshipping 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? 18Children 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.#Jr 44.17-19. 19But they are not only insulting me; they are also insulting 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. 31At 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.#2 K 23.10; Jr 32.35; Lv 18.21. 32So watch out! Some day 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. 34When I have 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.#Jr 16.9; 25.10; Rev 18.23.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Jeremiah 7
7
1The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and thou hast proclaimed there this word, and hast said, Hear a word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, who are coming in at these gates, to bow before Jehovah:
3Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Amend your ways, and your doings, And I cause you to dwell in this place.
4Do not trust for yourselves Unto the words of falsehood, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah [are] they!
5For, if ye do thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, If ye do judgment thoroughly Between a man and his neighbour,
6Sojourner, fatherless, and widow, ye oppress not, And innocent blood do not shed in this place, And after other gods do not walk, for evil to yourselves,
7Then I have caused you to dwell in this place, In the land that I gave to your fathers, From age even unto age.
8Lo, ye are trusting for yourselves On the words of falsehood, so as not to profit.
9Stealing, murdering, and committing adultery, And swearing to falsehood, and giving perfume to Baal, And going after other gods whom ye knew not.
10And ye have come in and stood before Me, In this house on which My name is called, And have said, ‘We have been delivered,’ In order to do all these abominations.
11A den of burglars hath this house, On which My name is called, been in your eyes? Even I, lo, I have seen, an affirmation of Jehovah.
12But go ye, I pray you, Unto My place that [is] in Shiloh, Where I caused My name to dwell at first, And see that which I have done to it, For the wickedness of My people Israel.
13And now, because of your doing all these works, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, And ye have not hearkened, And I call you, and ye have not answered,
14I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh.
15And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.
16And thou dost not pray for this people, Nor lift up for them crying and prayer, Nor intercede with Me, for I hear thee not.
17Art thou not seeing what they are doing In cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem?
18The sons are gathering wood, And the fathers are causing the fire to burn, And the women are kneading dough, To make cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out libations to other gods, So as to provoke Me to anger.
19Me are they provoking to anger? an affirmation of Jehovah, Is it not themselves, For the shame of their own faces?
20Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah, Lo, Mine anger and My fury is poured out on this place, On man, and beast, and on tree of the field, And on fruit of the ground, And it hath burned, and it is not quenched.
21Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Your burnt-offerings add to your sacrifices, And eat ye flesh.
22For I did not speak with your fathers, Nor did I command them in the day of My bringing them out of the land of Egypt, Concerning the matters of burnt-offering and sacrifice,
23But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to My voice, And I have been to you for God, And ye — ye are to Me for a people, And have walked in all the way that I command you, So that it is well for you.
24And they have not hearkened, nor inclined their ear, And they walk in the counsels, In the stubbornness, of their evil heart, And are for backward, and not for forward.
25Even from the day when your fathers Went out of the land of Egypt till this day, I send to you all my servants the prophets, Daily rising early and sending,
26And they have not hearkened unto Me, Nor inclined their ear, and harden their neck, They have done evil above their fathers.
27And thou hast spoken unto them all these words, And they do not hearken to thee, And thou hast called unto them, And they do not answer thee.
28And thou hast said unto them: This [is] the nation that hath not hearkened, To the voice of Jehovah its God, Nor have they accepted instruction, Perished hath stedfastness, Yea, it hath been cut off from their mouth.
29Cut off thy crown, and cast [it] away, And lift up on high places lamentation, For Jehovah hath rejected, And He leaveth the generation of His wrath.
30For the sons of Judah Have done the evil thing in Mine eyes, An affirmation of Jehovah, They have set their abominations in the house On which My name is called — to defile it,
31And have built the high places of Tophet, That [are] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, Which I did not command, Nor did it come up on My heart.
32Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is not said any more, ‘The Tophet,’ And ‘Valley of the son of Hinnom,’ But ‘Valley of the slaughter,’ And they have buried in Tophet — without place.
33And the carcase of this people hath been for food To a fowl of the heavens, and to a beast of the earth, And there is none troubling.
34And I have caused to cease from cities of Judah, And from streets of Jerusalem, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, Voice of bridegroom, and voice of bride, For the land doth become a desolation!
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