Jeremiah 7
7
Jeremiah Preaches in the Temple
1-3The LORD sent me to the gate of the Temple where the people of Judah went in to worship. He told me to stand there and announce what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had to say to them: “Change the way you are living and the things you are doing, and I will let you go on living here. 4Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple!’
5“Change the way you are living and stop doing the things you are doing. Be fair in your treatment of one another. 6Stop taking advantage of aliens, orphans, and widows. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop worshipping other gods, for that will destroy you. 7If you change, I will let you go on living here in the land which I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.
8“Look, you put your trust in deceitful words. 9You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before. 10You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, ‘We are safe!’ 11#Mt 21.13; Mk 11.17; Lk 19.46Do you think that my Temple is a hiding place for robbers? I have seen what you are doing. 12#Josh 18.1; Ps 78.60; Jer 26.6Go to Shiloh,#7.12 Shiloh: The city where the Covenant Box was kept in the time of Eli (see 1 Sam 1.3). The city was destroyed, probably by the Philistines. the first place where I chose to be worshipped, and see what I did to it because of the sins of my people Israel. 13You have committed all these sins, and even though I spoke to you over and over again, you refused to listen. You would not answer when I called you. 14And so, what I did to Shiloh I will do to this Temple of mine, in which you trust. Here in this place that I gave to your ancestors and to you, I will do the same thing that I did to Shiloh. 15I will drive you out of my sight as I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
The People's Disobedience
16The LORD said, “Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry or pray on their behalf; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. 17Don't you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18#Jer 44.7–19The children gather firewood, the men build fires, and the women mix dough to bake cakes for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They also pour out wine offerings to other gods, in order to hurt me. 19But am I really the one they are hurting? No, they are hurting themselves and bringing shame on themselves. 20And so I, the Sovereign LORD, will pour out my fierce anger on this Temple. I will pour it out on people and animals alike, and even on the trees and the crops. My anger will be like a fire that no one can put out.
21“My people, some sacrifices you burn completely on the altar, and some you are permitted to eat. But what I, the LORD, say is that you might as well eat them all. 22I gave your ancestors no commands about burnt offerings or any other kinds of sacrifices, when I brought them out of Egypt. 23But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live as I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them. 24But they did not obey or pay any attention. Instead, they did whatever their stubborn and evil hearts told them to do, and they became worse instead of better. 25From the day that your ancestors came out of Egypt until this very day, I have kept on sending my servants, the prophets, to you. 26Yet no one listened or paid any attention. Instead, you became more stubborn and rebellious than your ancestors.
27“So, Jeremiah, you will speak all these words to my people, but they will not listen to you; you will call them, but they will not answer. 28You will tell them that their nation does not obey me, the LORD their God, or learn from their punishment. Faithfulness is dead. No longer is it even talked about.
Sinful Deeds in the Valley of Hinnom
29“Mourn, people of Jerusalem;
cut off your hair and throw it away.
Sing a funeral song on the hilltops,
because I, the LORD, am angry,
and have rejected my people.
30“The people of Judah have done an evil thing. They have placed their idols, which I hate, in my Temple and have defiled it. 31#Lev 18.21; 2 Kgs 23.10; Jer 32.35In the Valley of Hinnom they have built an altar called Topheth, so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire. I did not command them to do this — it did not even enter my mind. 32And so, the time will come when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury people there because there will be nowhere else to bury them. 33The corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them off. 34#Jer 16.9; 25.10; Rev 18.23The land will become a desert. In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the happy sounds of wedding feasts.
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 7: GNBDK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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 Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, # 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 change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, # Lit justly between a man and his neighbor # Jr 22:3 6if you no longer oppress the foreigner, 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 called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’? 11Has this house, which is called by 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 # 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 is called by 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 drive you from My presence, just as I drove out 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, # = 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 man and beast, 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 Hosts, 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. You must 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 according to 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 this day, 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. # Lit you, each day rising early and sending # 2Ch 36:15-16; Jr 25:4 26However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate; # Lit but stiffened their neck # 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. 28You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth # Or Faithfulness has perished — it has disappeared from their mouths. 29Cut off the hair of your sacred vow # 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 detestable things # Jr 4:1; 16:18; 32:34 in the house that is called by My name and defiled it. # 2Kg 23:24 31They have built the high places of Topheth # Lit of the fireplace # 2Kg 23:10; Jr 19:6,11-14 in the Valley of Hinnom # 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. # Lit command, and it did not arise on My heart
32“Therefore, take note! 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 the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. # Jr 19:6 Topheth will become a cemetery, # 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; 34:27; 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
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.