Jeremiah 7

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 Take your place in the doorway of the Lord's house, and give out this word there, and say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who come inside these doors to give worship to the Lord.

Go and stand in the entrance to the Lord's Temple, and deliver this message: Listen to what Lord has to say, all of you from Judah who are coming in through these gates to worship the Lord.

3 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: Change your ways and do what's right, and I'll let you go on living here.

4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these.

Don't believe in those who try and deceive you by repeating, “The Temple of the Lord is here, the Temple of the Lord is here, the Temple of the Lord is here.”

5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour;

If you sincerely change your ways and do what's right, if you treat each other fairly,

6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:

if you stop mistreating foreigners and orphans and widows, and if you stop murdering innocent people and stop hurting yourselves by worshiping,

7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.

then I'll let you go on living here in the country that I gave to your forefathers forever and ever.

8 See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.

But look at you! You go on believing in these deceptions, these worthless words.

9 Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;

Are you really going to continue stealing, murdering, committing adultery, and lying, burning incense to Baal, and worshiping other gods that you know nothing about,

10 And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things?

and then come and stand before me in my own Temple and say, “We're safe, so we can continue doing all these offensive things”?

11 Has this house, which is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.

Do you see this house, my own Temple, as a den of thieves? Well, that's what it looks like to me too, declares the Lord.

12 But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel.

So why don't you go to Shiloh where I first made myself a place for me to live with you, and see what I did to it because of the evil my people Israel did?

13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer:

I've warned you time and again about all these things you've done but you've refused to listen, declares the Lord. I've called out to you but you didn't want to answer me.

14 For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

So now I'm going to do to my Temple, what I did to Shiloh. This is the Temple your put your faith in, the place I gave to you and your forefathers.

15 And I will send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim.

I will throw you out of my presence, just as I expelled all your Israelite relatives, all the descendants of Ephraim.

16 And as for you (Jeremiah), make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them, make no request for them to me: for I will not give ear.

You, Jeremiah, are not to pray for these people. Don't cry out to me in prayer for them, don't plead with me on their behalf, because I won't listen to you.

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

Can't you see how they're behaving in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The children go for wood, the fathers get the fire burning, the women are working the paste to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and drink offerings are drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.

The children collect the firewood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to make me angry and hurt.

19 Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame?

But is it really me they're hurting? declares the Lord. Aren't they really hurting themselves and bringing shame on themselves?

20 So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out.

So this is what the Lord God says: Watch! My furious anger and will be poured out on this country, on people and animals, on the orchards and the crops in the field. It will burn and nobody will be able to put it out.

21 These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You can add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat all the meat yourselves!

22 For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts:

When I led your forefathers out of Egypt I didn't just give them instructions about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

23 But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you.

This is the commandment I gave them: Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow everything I have commanded you to do, so that all will go well for you.

24 But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward.

But they refused to listen or pay attention. Instead they followed the desires of their own stubborn and evil thinking, so they ended up going backward and not forward.

25 From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them:

From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, I have sent you time after time my servants the prophets.

26 But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers.

But you refused to listen or pay them attention. Instead, you became more stubborn and rebellious than your forefathers!

27 And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer.

When you tell them all this, they won't listen to you. When you call out to them, they won't answer.

28 And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.

So you have to tell them, “This is the nation that refused to listen to what the Lord their God said, and would not accept the Lord's discipline. Truth has died out; people don't even talk about it.

29 Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up.

Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the bare hills, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation who made him angry.”

30 For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean.

For the people of Judah have done what is evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have placed their offensive idols in my own Temple, making it unclean.

31 And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.

They have built pagan shrines at Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could sacrifice their sons and daughters by burning them in the fire. This is something I never commanded. I never even thought of such a thing!

32 For this cause, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be named Topheth, or, The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of Death: for they will put the dead into the earth in Topheth till there is no more room.

So watch out! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when instead of Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom this place will be called the Valley of Killing. People will bury their dead in Topheth until it's full.

33 And the bodies of this people will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there will be no one to send them away.

The dead bodies of these people will be food for birds of prey and wild animals, and there won't be anyone to scare them away.

34 And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

I will put a stop to the cheerful sounds of celebration and the happy voices of the bride and bridegroom from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be turned into a wasteland.