The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 7 -

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh,

“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.

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.

Do not entrust yourself to deceitful words and say, “Temple of Yahweh! Temple of Yahweh! Temple of Yahweh!”

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

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-

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

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

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?

Then do you come and stand before me in this house where my name is proclaimed and say, “We are saved,” so you can do all of these abominations?

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.’

’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.

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.

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.

For I will send you out from before me just as I had sent out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’

Judah’s Idolatry Persists

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.

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

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.

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

Therefore, 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.’

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

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.

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 they did not listen or pay attention. They lived by their own stubborn plans of their wicked hearts, so they went backwards, not forward.

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.

But they did not listen to me. They paid no attention. Instead, they hardened their necks. They were more wicked than their ancestors.’

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.

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.

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.

The Valley of Slaughter

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 where my name is proclaimed, in order to defile it.

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.

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.

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.

I will put an end to the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, the sounds of exaltation and jubilation, the sounds of the groom and the bride; since the land will become a desolation.”

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

“Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear the LORD’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.’”

The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘The LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, are these.’

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt,

then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more.

Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations?

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says the LORD.

“But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

Now, because you have done all these works,” says the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer;

therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring

(a)

of Ephraim.

Judah’s Idolatry Persists

“Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Do they provoke me to anger?” says the LORD. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”

Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.”

The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.

For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices;

but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.

“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to the LORD their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’

Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

“For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind.

Therefore behold, the days come”, says the LORD, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.

The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away.

Then 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 will become a waste.”

Footnotes

(a)7:15 or, seed