Jeremiah 7

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

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

2 “Stand at the gate of Yahweh's house and proclaim this word! Say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, you who enter these gates to worship Yahweh.

“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 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: Make your ways and practices good, and I will let you continue to live 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 Do not entrust yourself to deceitful words and say, “Temple of Yahweh! Temple of Yahweh! Temple of Yahweh!”

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 actually make your ways and practices good; if you completely execute justice between a man and his neighbor—

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

6 if you do not exploit the one staying in the land, the orphan, or the widow and do not pour out innocent blood in this place, and do not walk after other gods to your own harm—

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 I will let you stay in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors from ancient times and forever.

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

8 Behold! You are trusting in deceitful words that do not help you.

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

9 Do you steal, kill, and commit adultery? Do you swear deceitfully and offer incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you have not known?

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

10 Then do you come and stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, “We are saved,” so you can do all of 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, which carries my name, a den of bandits in your eyes? But behold, I have seen it—this is Yahweh's declaration.'

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 'So go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I allowed my name to stay there in the beginning, and look at what I did to it because of the wickedness 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 So now, on account of your doing all of these practices—this is Yahweh's declaration—I spoke to you time and time again, but you did not listen. I summoned you, but you did not answer.

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, what I did to Shiloh, I will also do to this house that is called by my name, the house in which you have trusted, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

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 For I will send you out from before me just as I had sent out all your brothers, all the descendants 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 As for you, Jeremiah, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a lamenting wail or say a prayer on their behalf, and do not petition me, for I will not listen to you.

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

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

18 The children are gathering wood and the fathers kindling the fire! The women are kneading dough to make cakes for the queen of the heavens and pour out drink offerings for other gods so that they will provoke me.

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 Are they truly provoking me?—this is Yahweh's declaration—is it not themselves whom they are provoking, so that shame is on them?

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

20 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this, 'See, my anger and wrath will gush out onto this place, on both man and beast, on the tree in the fields and the fruit on the ground. It will burn and never be extinguished.'

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 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel says this, 'Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and the meat from them.

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 when I brought your ancestors out from the land of Egypt, I did not require anything from them. I gave them no command about matters of burnt offerings 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 I only gave them this command, “Listen to my voice, and I will be your God and you will be my people. So walk in all the ways that I am commanding you, so that it may go well with 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 did not listen or pay attention. They lived by their own stubborn plans of their wicked hearts, so they went backwards, not forward.

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 Ever since the day when your ancestors went out from the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent every one of my servants, my prophets, to you. I persisted in 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 But they did not listen to me. They paid no attention. Instead, they hardened their necks. They were more wicked than their ancestors.'

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

27 So proclaim all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. Proclaim these things to them, but they will not answer you.

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

28 Say to them: This is a nation that does not listen to the voice of Yahweh its God and does not receive discipline. Truth is destroyed and cut off from their mouths.

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 your hair and shave yourself, and throw away your hair. Sing a funeral song over the open places. For Yahweh has rejected and abandoned this generation in his rage.

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 sons of Judah have done evil in my eye—this is Yahweh's declaration—they have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, in order to defile 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 Then they built the high place of Topheth that is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. They did this to burn their sons and daughters in fire—something that I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

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 So see, days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when it will no longer be called Topheth or Valley of Ben Hinnom. It will be the Valley of Slaughter; they will bury bodies in Topheth until there is no room left.

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 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten 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 I will put an end to the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the sound of the groom and the sound of the bride, for the land will become a desolation.”

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.”