Jeremiah 7
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
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.
Hear you the word of the Lord, all Judea.
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.
Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Correct your ways and your devices, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
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.
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 your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour;
For if you thoroughly correct your ways and your practices, and do indeed execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;
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:
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 go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for 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 See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.
But whereas you have trusted in lying words, whereby you shall not be profited;
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;
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 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?
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 is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says 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 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.
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 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:
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 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.
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 send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away your brethren, all the seed 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.
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 towns 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 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.
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 Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame?
Do they provoke me to anger? says the Lord: do they not [provoke] themselves, that their faces may be ashamed?
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.
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 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.
Thus says the Lord, Gather your whole burnt offerings with your meat-offerings, and eat flesh.
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:
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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 But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse 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 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.
Therefore you shall speak this word to them;
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.
This is the nation which has not listened to the voice of the Lord, nor received correction: truth has failed from their mouth.
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 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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
