Jeremiah 7
7
The Temple Sermon.#The Temple of the Lord will not guarantee safety against enemy invasion or any other misfortune. 1The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message there: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord! 3Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds so that I may dwell with you in this place.#Jer 18:11; 26:13. 4Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!”#Mi 3:11. 5Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; 6if you no longer oppress the alien,#The alien: specially protected within Israelite society; cf. Ex 22:20; Nm 9:14; 15:14; Dt 5:14; 28:43. the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm,#Ex 22:21–24. 7only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.#Dt 4:40.
8But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss! 9Do you think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not know,#Jer 44:17. 10and then come and stand in my presence in this house, which bears my name, and say: “We are safe! We can commit all these abominations again!”?#Jer 32:34. 11Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I have seen it for myself!—oracle of the Lord.#Mt 21:13. 12Go to my place at Shiloh,#Shiloh: an important sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was kept, according to the Books of Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel. In response to the corrupt behavior of the priests serving there, God allows the Philistines to destroy Shiloh and take the ark of the covenant. Cf. 1 Sm 1:9; 4:3–4; Ps 78:60, 68–69. where I made my name dwell in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.#Jos 18:1. 13And now, because you have committed all these deeds—oracle of the Lord—because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly, and because you did not answer, though I called you, 14I will do to this house, which bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh.#Jer 26:9. 15I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away all your kindred, all the offspring of Ephraim.#1 Kgs 9:7; 2 Kgs 17:23.
Abuses in Worship. 16You, now, must not intercede for this people! Do not raise a cry or prayer in their behalf!#Jer 11:14; 14:11. Do not press me, for I will not listen to you! 17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven,#Queen of Heaven: probably Astarte, goddess of fertility (cf. 1 Sm 31:10; 1 Kgs 11:5), worshiped particularly by women (cf. Jer 44:15–19). Such worship was evidently reinforced during the reign of King Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:3–7) and was revived after Josiah’s death. while libations are poured out to other gods—all to offend me!#Jer 44:17, 19. 19Are they really offending me—oracle of the Lord—or rather themselves, to their own disgrace?#Jb 35:6. 20Therefore, thus says the Lord God: my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon human being and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn and not be quenched.#Jer 36:29; 2 Kgs 22:17.
21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices; eat up the meat! 22In speaking to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command#I gave them no command: right conduct rather than formal ritual was God’s will concerning his people (v. 23). concerning burnt offering or sacrifice. 23This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper.#Jer 11:4; Lv 26:3, 12.
24But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.#Jer 17:23. 25From the day that your ancestors left the land of Egypt even to this day, I kept on sending all my servants the prophets to you.#2 Chr 36:15–16; Bar 1:19. 26Yet they have not listened to me nor have they paid attention; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their ancestors.#Jer 19:15; 2 Chr 30:8. 27When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
29#Jer 9:17–21. Cut off your hair#Hair: the unshorn hair of the nazirite, regarded as sacred because of a vow, temporary or permanent, to abstain from cutting or shaving the hair; nazirites also avoided contact with a corpse and with all products of the vine; cf. Nm 6:4–8. The cutting of this hair was a sign of extreme mourning. and throw it away!
on the heights raise a lament;
The Lord has indeed rejected and cast off
the generation that draws down his wrath.
30The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes—oracle of the Lord. They have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, thereby defiling it.#Jer 32:34. 31In the Valley of Ben-hinnom#Valley of Ben-hinnom: this valley was probably south of Jerusalem. Topheth: perhaps, “fire pit.” they go on building the high places of Topheth to sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire, something I never commanded or considered. 32Be assured! Days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when they will no longer say “Topheth” or “Valley of Ben-hinnom” but “Valley of Slaughter.” For want of space, Topheth will become burial ground.#Jer 19:6; 32:35. 33The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and beasts of the earth, which no one will drive away.#Jer 16:4; 34:20. 34I will silence the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will be turned to rubble.#Jer 16:9.
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Jeremiah 7: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Jeremiah 7
7
Trusting in Lying Words
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2#Jer. 17:19; 26:2“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #Jer. 4:1; 18:11; 26:13“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4#Jer. 7:8; Mic. 3:11Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
5“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly #1 Kin. 6:12; Jer. 21:12; 22:3execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, #Deut. 6:14, 15; Jer. 13:10or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7#Deut. 4:40then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in #Jer. 3:18the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8“Behold, you trust in #Jer. 5:31; 14:13, 14lying words that cannot profit. 9#1 Kin. 18:21; Hos. 4:1, 2; Zeph. 1:5Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and #Ex. 20:3; Jer. 7:6; 19:4walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10#Ezek. 23:39and then come and stand before Me in this house #Jer. 7:11, 14; 32:34; 34:15which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11Has #Is. 56:7this house, which is called by My name, become a #Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
12“But go now to #Josh. 18:1; Judg. 18:31My place which was in Shiloh, #Deut. 12:11where I set My name at the first, and see #1 Sam. 4:10; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, #2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 11:7rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I #Prov. 1:24; Is. 65:12; 66:4called you, but you did not answer, 14therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to #1 Sam. 4:10, 11; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6, 9Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, #2 Kin. 17:23as I have cast out all your brethren—#Ps. 78:67; Hos. 7:13; 9:13; 12:1the whole posterity of Ephraim.
16“Therefore #Ex. 32:10; Deut. 9:14; Jer. 11:14do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; #Jer. 15:1for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18#Jer. 44:17The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they #Jer. 19:13pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19#Deut. 32:16, 21Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
20Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #Is. 1:11; Jer. 6:20; Hos. 8:13; Amos 5:21, 22“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22#1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; (Hos. 6:6)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23But this is what I commanded them, saying, #Ex. 15:26; 16:32; Deut. 6:3‘Obey My voice, and #(Ex. 19:5, 6); Lev. 26:12; (Jer. 11:4; 13:11)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24#Ps. 81:11; Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but #Deut. 29:19; Jer. 9:14followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and #Jer. 32:33went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even #2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 25:4; 29:19; Mark 12:1–10; Luke 11:47–49sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26#Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but #Neh. 9:17stiffened their neck. #Jer. 16:12; Matt. 23:32They did worse than their fathers.
27“Therefore #Jer. 1:7; 26:2; 37:14, 15; 43:1–4; Ezek. 2:7you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Judgment on Obscene Religion
28“So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God #Jer. 5:3nor receive correction. #Jer. 9:3Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29#Job 1:20; Is. 15:2; Jer. 48:37; Mic. 1:16Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. #2 Kin. 21:4; 2 Chr. 33:3–5, 7; Jer. 32:34, 35; Ezek. 7:20; Dan. 9:27; 11:31“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31And they have built the #2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:5; 32:35high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to #Lev. 18:21; 2 Kin. 17:17; Ps. 106:38burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, #Deut. 17:3which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32“Therefore behold, #Jer. 19:6the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; #2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:11for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33The #Jer. 9:22; 19:11; Ezek. 6:5corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause to #Is. 24:7, 8; Jer. 16:9; 25:10; Ezek. 26:13; Hos. 2:11; Rev. 18:23cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For #Lev. 26:33; Is. 1:7; Jer. 4:27the land shall be desolate.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.