Jeremiah 7

1 The woordes that came to Ieremiah from the Lord, saying,

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

2 Stand in the gate of the Lordes house and crie this woorde there, and say, Heare the woorde of the Lord, all yee of Iudah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.

“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.

3 Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Amend your waies and your woorkes, and I will let you dwell in this place.

Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.

4 Trust not in lying woordes, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord: this is the Temple of the Lord.

Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’

5 For if you amende and redresse your waies and your woorkes: if you execute iudgement betweene a man and his neighbour,

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

6 And oppresse not the stranger, the fatherlesse and the widow and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walke after other gods to your destruction,

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,

7 Then will I let you dwell in this place in the lande that I gaue vnto your fathers, for euer and euer.

then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8 Beholde, you trust in lying woordes, that can not profite.

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

9 Will you steale, murder, and commit adulterie, and sweare falsely and burne incense vnto Baal, and walke after other gods whome yee knowe not?

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

10 And come and stande before mee in this House, whereupon my Name is called, and saye, We are deliuered, though we haue done all these abominations?

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’?

11 Is this House become a denne of theeues, whereupon my Name is called before your eyes? Beholde, euen I see it, sayeth the Lord.

Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

12 But go ye nowe vnto my place which was in Shilo, where I set my Name at the beginning, and beholde, what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel.

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.

13 Therefore nowe because yee haue done all these woorkes, sayeth the Lord, (and I rose vp earely and spake vnto you: but when I spake, yee would not heare me, neither when I called, would yee answere).

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,

14 Therefore will I do vnto this House, wherupon my Name is called, wherein also yee trust, euen vnto the place that I gaue to you and to your fathers, as I haue done vnto Shilo.

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.

15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I haue cast out all your brethren, euen the whole seede of Ephraim.

And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

16 Therfore thou shalt not pray for this people, neither lift vp crie or praier for them neither intreat me, for I will not heare thee.

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.

17 Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem?

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

18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knede the dough to make cakes to the Queene of heauen and to powre out drinke offrings vnto other gods, that they may prouoke me vnto anger.

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.

19 Doe they prouoke me to anger, sayeth the Lord, and not themselues to the confusion of their owne faces?

But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?

20 Therefore thus sayeth the Lord God, Beholde, mine anger and my wrath shall be powred vpon this place, vpon man and vpon beast, and vpon the tree of the fielde, and vpon the fruite of the grounde, and it shall burne and not bee quenched.

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.

21 Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings vnto your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.

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!

22 For I spake not vnto your fathers, nor commanded them, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offrings and sacrifices.

For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voyce, and I will be your God, and yee shalbe my people: and walke yee in all the wayes which I haue commanded you, that it may be well vnto you.

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.

24 But they would not obey, nor incline their eare, but went after the counsels and the stubbernesse of their wicked heart, and went backewarde and not forwarde.

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.

25 Since the day that your fathers came vp out of the lande of Egypt, vnto this day, I haue euen sent vnto you al my seruants the Prophets, rising vp earely euery day, and sending them.

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.

26 Yet would they not heare me nor encline their eare, but hardened their necke and did worse then their fathers.

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

27 Therefore shalt thou speake al these words vnto them, but they will not heare thee: thou shalt also crie vnto them, but they will not answere thee.

When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer.

28 But thou shalt say vnto them, This is a nation that heareth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiueth discipline: trueth is perished, and is cleane gone out of their mouth.

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.

29 Cut off thine heare, O Ierusalem, and cast it away, and take vp a complaint on the hie places: for the Lord hath reiected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

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.’

30 For the children of Iudah haue done euill in my sight, sayth the Lord: they haue set their abominations in the House, whereupon my Name is called, to pollute it.

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.

31 And they haue built the hie place of Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-Hinnom to burne their sonnes and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it in mine heart.

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.

32 Therefore beholde, the dayes come, sayeth the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall burie in Topheth til there be no place.

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.

33 And ye carkeises of this people shalbe meat for the foules of the heauen and for the beastes of the earth, and none shall fraie them away.

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.

34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Iudah and from the streetes of Ierusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladnesse, the voice of the bridegrom and the voice of the bride: for the lande shalbe desolate.

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.”