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.
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 7: NABRE
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7
7
1The word that came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, saying,
2“Stand in the gate of the House of יהוה, and you shall proclaim there this word, and shall say, ‘Hear the word of יהוה, all you of Yehuḏah who enter in at these gates to bow before יהוה!’ ”
3Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Make your ways and your deeds good, then I let you dwell in this place.
4“Do not trust in these false words, saying, ‘This is the Hĕḵal of יהוה, the Hĕḵal of יהוה, the Hĕḵal of יהוה!’
5“For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do right-ruling between a man and his neighbour,
6if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other mighty ones to your own evil,
7then I shall let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8“See, you are trusting in false words, which do not profit –
9stealing, murdering, and committing adultery, and swearing falsely, and burning incense to Ba‛al, and walking after other mighty ones you have not known.
10“And you came and stood before Me in this house which is called by My Name, and said, ‘We have been delivered’ – in order to do all these abominations!
11“Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I Myself have seen it,” declares יהוה.
12“But go now to My place at Shiloh, where I set My Name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Yisra’ĕl.
13“And now, because you have done all these works,” declares יהוה, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,
14“I shall also do to this 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 did to Shiloh.
15“And I shall cast you out of My presence, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the seed of Ephrayim.
16“And you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you.
17“Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?
18“The children are gathering wood, the fathers are lighting the fire, and the women are kneading their dough, to make cakes for the sovereigness of the heavens, and to pour out drink offerings to other mighty ones, to provoke Me.
19“Is it Me they are provoking?” declares יהוה. “Is it not themselves – unto the shame of their own faces?”
20Therefore, thus said the Master יהוה, “See, My displeasure and My wrath is poured out on this place, on man and on beast, and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it shall burn and not be quenched.”
21Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Add your ascending offerings to your slaughterings and eat meat.
22“For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim, about matters of ascending offerings or slaughterings.
23“But this word I did command them, saying, ‘Obey My voice,#See also Gen. 26:5; Exo. 19:5; John 3:36; Rom. 6:16; Heb. 4:11; Heb. 5:9 and Rev. 22:14 and I shall be your Elohim, and you be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it be well with you.’
24“But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
25“From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Mitsrayim until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
26“But they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did evil, more than their fathers.
27“And you shall speak all these words to them, though they do not listen to you. And you shall also call to them, though they do not answer you.
28“But you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that did not obey the voice of יהוה their Elohim, nor did they accept instruction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights, for יהוה has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
30“For the children of Yehuḏah have done what is evil in My eyes,” declares יהוה. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My Name, to defile it.
31“And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32“Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when it shall no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they shall bury in Topheth until no room is left.
33“And the corpses of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them away.
34“And in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim I shall make to cease the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall become a waste!
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.