Jeremiah 7

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

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, 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.

Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and proclaim these words, and say: —Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, Who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah!

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 saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, And I will suffer 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.”

Trust ye not in lying words, when they say, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah are these.”

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

Yet if ye will thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, And dispense justice between man and man,

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 go 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 cause you to dwell in this place, In the land which I gave to your fathers, For ever and ever.

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

Behold, ye trust in lying words without 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,

Ye steal, and murder, and commit adultery, And swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, And go after strange gods, which ye know not,

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 me in this house, Which is called by my name, And say, “We are delivered!” Whilst ye practise 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 this house, which is called by my name, Become a den for robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, saith Jehovah.

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?

But go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, Where I caused my name to dwell at the first, And see what I have done to it On account 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 because ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, And I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, But ye hearkened not, And I have called to you, But ye answered not,

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 to the house which is called by my name, In which ye place your confidence, And to the place which I gave 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.

I will cast you out from my presence, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole race 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.

And as for thee, pray not for this people, Nor lift up a cry or a prayer for them, Nor make intercession to me for them; 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?

Seest thou not what they do In the cities of Judah, and 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 sons gather the wood, And the fathers kindle the fire, And the women knead dough, To make cakes for the queen of heaven, And to pour out libations to strange gods, That they may vex me.

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

But do they vex me, saith Jehovah? Do they not rather vex themselves, to the confusion 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 saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold my anger and my fury shall be poured out on this place, Upon man and upon beast; Upon the trees of the field, And upon the fruit of the ground; It shall burn and 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 saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, And eat ye the flesh.

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

For I spake not to your fathers, nor commanded them Concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices, At the time when I brought them out of the land of Egypt;

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 command gave I to them: “Hearken,” said I, “to my voice, And I will be your God, And ye shall be my people. And walk ye in all the ways which I command you, That it may go well with 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.

But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, But walked in the devices and obstinacy of their evil heart, Turning their backs and not their faces toward me.

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

From the day when your fathers came forth from the land of Egypt, Even to this day, I have also sent to you all my servants, the prophets, Daily rising early and sending.

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

But they have not hearkened to me, Nor have they inclined their ear; But they have hardened their neck, And acted more wickedly 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 when thou shalt speak all these things to them, They will not hearken to thee; And when thou shalt call to them, They will make thee no answer.

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.

Therefore shalt thou say to them, This is the nation that hearkeneth not to the voice of Jehovah their God, And taketh no correction; Truth hath failed, and is cut off 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 locks, O Jerusalem, and cast them away! Set up a lamentation upon the high place! For Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the children Against which his wrath hath been kindled.

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 evil in my sight, saith Jehovah, They have set 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!

They have built the high places of Tophet, Which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, Which I commanded not, Which even came not 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, the days come, saith Jehovah, That it shall no more be called Tophet, Or the valley of the son of Hinnom, But the Valley of Slaughter; For they shall bury in Tophet till there be no room left.

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 dead bodies of this people shall be for meat To the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth; And none shall scare 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 mirth and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; For the land shall be desolate.