Jeremiah 7

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

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2 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.

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 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.

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 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.”

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

For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

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

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'll let you go on living here in the country that I gave to your forefathers 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 at you! You go on believing in these deceptions, these worthless words.

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

9 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,

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 my own Temple and say, “We're safe, so we can continue doing all these offensive things”?

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 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.

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 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?

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 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.

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 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.

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

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 Can't you see how they're behaving in the towns 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 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.

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

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord, [and] not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

20 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.

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 Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You can add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat all 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 When I led your forefathers out of Egypt I didn't just give them instructions 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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. Sing a song of mourning on the bare hills, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation who made him angry.”

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

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 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!

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.