Jeremiah 7

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.

Hear you the word of the Lord, all Judea.

3 Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.

Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Correct your ways and your devices, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4 Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’

Trust not in yourselves with lying words, for they shall not profit you at all, saying, It is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

5 For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another,

For if you thoroughly correct your ways and your practices, and do indeed execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;

6 if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

and oppress not the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and go not after strange gods to your hurt:

7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers of old and for ever.

8 But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail.

But whereas you have trusted in lying words, whereby you shall not be profited;

9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,

and you murder, and commit adultery, and steal, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and are gone after strange gods whom you know not,

10 and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’?

so that it is evil with you; yet have you come, and stood before me in the house, whereon my name is called, and you have said, We have refrained from doing all these abominations.

11 Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

Is my house, whereon my name is called, a den of robbers in your eyes? And, behold, I have seen [it], says the Lord.

12 But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

For go you to my place with is in Selo, where I caused my name to dwell before, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,

And now, because you have done all these deeds, and I spoke to you, but you listened not to me; and I called you, but you answered not;

14 therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers.

therefore I also will do to the house whereon my name is called, wherein you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Selo.

15 And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.

16 As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

Therefore pray not you for this people, and intercede not for them to be pitied, yes, pray not, and approach me not for them: for I will not listen [to you].

17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Seest you not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

Their children gather wood, and their fathers kindle a fire, and their women knead dough, to make cakes to the host of heaven; and they have poured out drink-offerings to strange gods, that they might provoke me to anger.

19 But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?

Do they provoke me to anger? says the Lord: do they not [provoke] themselves, that their faces may be ashamed?

20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.

Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, my anger and wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and upon the men, and upon the cattle, and upon every tree of their field, and upon the fruits of the land; and it shall burn, and not be quenched.

21 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

Thus says the Lord, Gather your whole burnt offerings with your meat-offerings, and eat flesh.

22 For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

For I spoke not to your fathers, and commanded them not in the day wherein I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, concerning whole burnt offerings and sacrifice:

23 but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

but I commanded them this thing, saying, Hear you my voice, and I will be to you a God, and you shall be to me a people: and walk you in all my ways which I shall command you, that it may be well with you.

24 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

But they listened not to me, and their ear gave no heed, but they walked in the imaginations of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward;

25 From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.

from the day that their fathers went forth out of the land of Egypt, even until this day. And I sent to you all my servants, the prophets, by day and early in the morning: yes, I sent [them],

26 Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.

but they listened not to me, and their ear gave no heed; and they made their neck harder than their fathers.

27 When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer.

Therefore you shall speak this word to them;

28 Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.

This is the nation which has not listened to the voice of the Lord, nor received correction: truth has failed from their mouth.

29 Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’

Cut off your hair, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on your lips; for the Lord has reprobated and rejected the generation that does these things.

30 For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

For the children of Juda have wrought evil before me, says the Lord; they have set their abominations in the house on which my name is called, to defile it.

31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.

And they have built the altar of Taphes, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons and their daughters with fire; which I did not command them [to do], neither did I design it in my heart.

32 So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, The altar of Taphes, and the valley of the son of Ennom, but, The valley of the slain; and they shall bury in Taphes, for lack of room.

33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.

And the dead bodies of this people shall be for food to the birds of the sky, and to the wild beasts of the earth; and there shall be none to drive [them] away.

34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”

And I will destroy out of the cities of Juda, and the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of them that make merry, and the voice of them that rejoice, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for the whole land shall become a desolation.