Jeremiah 7
7
Jeremiah’s Proclamation at the Gate of the House of Yahweh
1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, those who enter through these gates to bow in worship to Yahweh. 3Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place. 4Do not trust in the deceitful words,#Literally “the words of the deception” saying,#Literally “to say” ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, they are the temple of Yahweh.’ 5For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor, 6you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods to your harm,#Literally “to harm to you” 7then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors#Or “fathers” forever and ever.#Literally “from eternity and until eternity”
8Look, you are relying for yourselves on deceitful words#Literally “the words of the deception” without benefiting. 9Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely?#Literally “to the lie” And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known? 10And then you come and you stand before#Literally “to the face of” me in this house, which is called by my name,#Literally “my name over it” and you say, ‘we are safe to go on doing#Literally “for the sake of the doing of” all of these detestable things.’ 11Has this house, which is called by my name,#Literally “my name over it” become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it,” #Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
12“For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it because of#Literally “from face” the wickedness of my people Israel. 13And now, because of your doing all these things,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “and I have spoken to you over and over again,#Literally “I spoke to you doing early and speaking” and you have not listened, and I called you, and you have not answered, 14therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name,#Literally “my name over it” in which you are trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors#Or “fathers” what#Literally “as that” I did to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of my sight#Literally “from at my face” just as I cast out all of your blood relatives,#Or “brothers” all of the offspring of Ephraim.” ’
16“And you, you must not pray for this people, and you must not lift up for them a cry of entreaty or a prayer, and you must not plead with me, for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children are gathering wood, and the fathers are kindling the fire, and the women are kneading dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out libations to other gods for the sake of provoking me to anger. 19Are they provoking me to anger? ” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “Is it not themselves they hurt, for the sake of the shame of their faces?” 20Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished.”
21Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22For I did not speak with your ancestors,#Or “fathers” nor did I command them in the day of bringing them out from the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offering and sacrifice. 23But I only commanded them this word, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Obey my voice, and I will be to you God, and you will be to me people, and you must walk in all of the way that I command you, so that it goes well with you.’ 24Yet they did not obey, and they did not incline their ear, but they walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they became worse instead of better.#Literally “they were to backward and not to face” 25From the day that your ancestors#Or “fathers” came out from the land of Egypt until this day I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, day after day, sending again and again.#Literally “doing early and sending” 26Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.#Or “fathers” 27So you shall speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you, and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
The Valley of the Slaughter
28“And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the voice of Yahweh their God, and they have not accepted discipline. The truth has perished, and it is cut off from their mouths.#Hebrew “mouth” 29Shear your hair and throw it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation away, and lift up a lament on the barren heights, for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’ 30For the people #Or “children” of Judah have done evil in my eyes,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “They have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name,#Literally “my name over it” to defile it. 31And they built the high place of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.#Or “heart” 32Therefore look, days are about to come,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “and it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, and they will bury in Topheth until there is no more place.#Literally “from there is no place” 33And the dead bodies#Hebrew “body” of this people will be as food for the birds#Hebrew “bird” of the heavens,#Or “sky” and for the animals#Hebrew “animal” of the earth, without anyone to scare them#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation away. 34And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.
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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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