Jeremiah 7

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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 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.

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 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).

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 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.

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

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

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

Can't you see how they're behaving in the towns 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 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 Doe they prouoke me to anger, sayeth the Lord, and not themselues to the confusion of their owne faces?

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

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.

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

When I led your forefathers out of Egypt I didn't just give them instructions 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.