Jeremiah 7

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

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.

Place thyself in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in by these gates to bow down before the Lord.

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 hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will permit 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.’

[But] do not rely on the words of falsehood, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, [as] they [say].

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

For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds; if ye thoroughly execute justice 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,

If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after other gods to your own 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 permit you to dwell in this place, in the land that I have given to your fathers, from eternity to eternity.

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

Behold, ye rely on the words of falsehood, that cannot profit.

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

How? will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Ba'al, and walk after other gods of which ye have no knowledge;

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’?

And [then] come and stand before my presence in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are delivered;” in order to do 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 then this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? [But] I also, behold, I have seen it, saith 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 ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did unto 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, whereas ye have done all these acts, saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you, causing [the prophets] to rise up early and speaking, while ye would not hear; and I called you, but ye would not answer:

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 will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, whereon ye rely, and unto the place which I have given to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

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 presence, as I have cast out all 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.

But thou—pray not thou in behalf of this people, nor lift up in their behalf entreaty or prayer, nor make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.

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

Dost thou not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah 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.

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, in order to 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? saith the Lord, [and] not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

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 hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, over man, and over beast, and over the trees of the field, and over the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and it shall 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 hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Add your burnt-offerings unto your peace-sacrifices, and eat the flesh thereof.

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 with your fathers, and I commanded them not on the day of my bringing them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offering or 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 this thing did I command them, saying, Hearken to my voice, and I will be unto you for a God, and ye shall be unto me for a people; and walk ye altogether on the way which I may command you, in order that it may be well unto 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.

Yet they hearkened not, and inclined not their ear; but they walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart; and they 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.

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt until this day; and I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, sending them daily in the morning early;

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

Yet they hearkened not unto me, and inclined not their ear; but they hardened their neck; they did worse 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.

And if thou speak unto them all these words, and they will not hearken to thee; and if thou call unto them, and they will not answer thee:

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.

Then shalt thou say unto them, This is the nation that hearken not to the voice of the Lord their God, and accept not correction; lost is the truth, and is obliterated 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 thy flowing hair, and cast it away, and take up on mountain-tops a lamentation; for rejected hath the Lord and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

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 Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, saith the Lord: they have set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute 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 high-places of Thophet, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I had not commanded, and which never came into my mind.

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 days are coming, saith the Lord, that it shall not be called any more Thophet, or The valley of Ben-hinnom, but The valley of slaughter: and they shall bury in Thophet, for want 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 carcasses of this people shall become food unto the fowls of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth, with none to chase 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 cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of gladness, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for a desert shall the land become.