Jeremiah 7
7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 "Stand at the gate to the house of the Lord, and preach this word there, and say: Listen to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter through these gates to adore the Lord.
3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Make your ways and your intentions good, and I will live with you in this place.
4 Do not choose to trust in lying words, saying: 'This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!'
5 For if you direct your ways and your intentions well, if you exercise judgment between a man and his neighbor,
6 if you do not act with deceit toward the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow, and if you do not pour out innocent blood in this place, and if you do not walk after strange gods, which is to your own harm,
7 then I will live with you in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from the beginning and even forever.
8 Behold, you trust in false words, which will not benefit you,
9 so as to steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer libations to Baal, and to go after strange gods, which you do not know.
10 And you arrived and stood before me in this house, where my name is invoked, and you said: 'We have been freed because we carried out all these abominations.'
11 So then, has this house, where my name has been invoked, become a den of robbers in your eyes? It is I, I am, I have seen, says the Lord.
12 Go to my place in Shiloh, where my name has lived from the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and because I have spoken to you from your morning rising, and because I was speaking, but you were not listening, and because I have called you, but you have not responded:
14 I will do to this house, in which my name is invoked, and in which you have confidence, even to this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, just as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you away from my face, just as I have cast away all your brothers, the entire offspring of Ephraim.
16 Therefore, you should not pray for this people, nor take up praise and supplication on their behalf. And you should not stand in opposition to me. For then I will not heed you.
17 Have you not seen what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The sons gather the wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the wives spread the grease, so as to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to offer libations to strange gods, and so as to provoke me to anger.
19 But are they provoking me to anger, says the Lord? Are they not provoking themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?"
20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, my fury and my indignation is kindled against this place, over men and over beasts, and over the trees of the countryside and over the fruits of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished."
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your holocausts to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
22 For concerning the matter of holocausts and sacrifices, I did not speak with your fathers, and I did not instruct them, in the day when I led them away from the land of Egypt.
23 But on this matter I did instruct them, saying: Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. And walk in the entire way that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you.
24 But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear. Instead, they walked by their own will and in the depravity of their own wicked heart. And so, they went backward, and not forward,
25 from the day when their fathers went forth from the land of Egypt, even to this day. And I have sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, throughout the day, rising at first light and sending them.
26 But they have not listened to me, nor have they inclined their ear. Instead, they have stiffened their neck, and they have behaved worse than their fathers did.
27 And so, you will speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you. And you will call to them, but they will not respond to you.
28 And you will say to them: This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor accepted discipline. Faith has perished and been taken away from their mouth.
29 Cut off your hair, and cast it away. And take up a lamentation on high. For the Lord has cast aside and abandoned this generation of his fury.
30 For the sons of Judah have done evil in my eyes, says the Lord. They have stationed their abominations in the house where my name is invoked, so that they may defile it.
31 And they have built the exalted places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the son of Hinnom, so that they may burn their sons and their daughters with fire, something I neither instructed, nor thought in my heart.
32 For this reason, behold, the days will arrive, says the Lord, when it will no longer be called Topheth, nor the Valley of the son of Hinnom, but instead the Valley of Slaughter. Yet they will bury in Topheth, because there will be no other place.
33 And the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air and for the wild beasts of the land, and there will be no one to drive them away.
34 And from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, I will cause the cessation of the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride. For the land will be in utter desolation."
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Jeremiah 7: CPDV
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Jeremiah 7
7
The LORD’s temple
1Jeremiah received the LORD’s word: 2Stand near the gate of the LORD’s temple and proclaim there this message: Listen to the LORD’s word, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3This is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Improve your conduct and your actions, and I will dwell with you#7.3 Or I will let you dwell in this place. 4Don’t trust in lies: “This is the LORD’s temple! The LORD’s temple! The LORD’s temple!” 5No, if you truly reform your ways and your actions; if you treat each other justly; 6if you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, 7only then will I dwell with you#7.7 Or I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time.
8And yet you trust in lies that will only hurt you. 9Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, 10and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, “We are safe,” only to keep on doing all these detestable things? 11Do you regard this temple, which bears my name, as a hiding place for criminals? I can see what’s going on here, declares the LORD. 12Just go to my sanctuary#7.12 Or place in Shiloh, where I let my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, because you haven’t listened when I spoke to you again and again or responded when I called you, 14I will do to this temple that bears my name and on which you rely, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh. 15I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim.
16As for you, don’t pray for these people, don’t cry out or plead for them, and don’t intercede with me, for I won’t listen to you. 17Can’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven. And to offend me all the more, they pour out drink offerings to foreign gods. 19But am I the one they are really offending? declares the LORD. Aren’t they in fact humiliating themselves? 20Therefore, this is what the LORD God says: I’m going to pour out my fierce anger on this place, on humans and beasts, on the trees of the field and the crops of the fertile land. It will burn and not go out.
21This is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Add your entirely burned offerings to your sacrifices and eat them yourselves! 22On the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn’t say a thing—I gave no instructions—about entirely burned offerings or sacrifices. 23Rather, this is what I required of them: Obey me so that I may become your God and you may become my people. Follow the path I mark out for you so that it may go well with you. 24But they didn’t listen or pay attention. They followed their willful and evil hearts and went backward rather than forward. 25From the moment your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets—day after day. 26But they didn’t listen to me or pay attention; they were stubborn and did more harm than their ancestors. 27When you tell them all this, they won’t listen to you. When you call to them, they won’t respond. 28Therefore, say to them: This nation neither obeys the LORD its God nor accepts correction; truth has disappeared; it has vanished from their lips.
29Cut off your hair and cast it away;
grieve on the well-traveled paths.
The LORD has rejected you
and has cast off a generation that provokes his anger.
30The people of Judah have done what displeases me, declares the LORD. They have corrupted the temple that bears my name by setting up their disgusting idols. 31They have built shrines at Topheth in the Ben-hinnom Valley to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, although I never commanded such a thing, nor did it ever cross my mind. 32So now the time is coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer speak of Topheth or the Ben-hinnom Valley, but the Carnage Valley. They will bury in Topheth until no space is left. 33The corpses of this people will be food for birds and wild animals, with no one to drive them off. 34I will silence the sound of joy and delight as well as the voice of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to a wasteland.
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