Jeremiah 7

Message at the Temple Gate

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2“1Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” 3Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “2Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 43Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘4This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5For 5if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly 6practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the alien, the 78orphan, or the widow, and do not shed 9innocent blood in this place, nor 10walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7then I will let you 11dwell in this place, in the 12land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8“Behold, you are trusting in 13deceptive words to no avail. 9Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and 1415offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after 16other gods that you have not known, 10then 17come and stand before Me in 18this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’--that you may do all these abominations? 11Has 19this house, which is called by My name, become a 20den of robbers in your sight? Behold, 21I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.

12“But go now to My place which was in 22Shiloh, where I 23made My name dwell at the first, and 24see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, 25rising up early and 26speaking, but you did not hear, and I 27called you but you did not answer, 14therefore, I will do to the 28house which is called by My name, 29in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I 30did to Shiloh. 15I will 31cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the 32offspring of 33Ephraim.

16“As for you, 34do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. 17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The 35children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they 36pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to 37spite Me. 1938Do they spite Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves they spite, to 39their own 40shame?” 20Therefore thus says the Lord 41God, “Behold, My 42anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the 43trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

21Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your 44burnt offerings to your sacrifices and 45eat flesh. 22For I did not 46speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23But this is 47what I commanded them, saying, ‘48Obey My voice, and 49I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may 50be well with you.’ 24Yet they 51did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and 5253went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have 54sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. 26Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but 55stiffened their neck; they 56did more evil than their fathers.

27“You shall 57speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will 58not answer you. 28You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that 59did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; 6061truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.2962Cut off 63your hair and cast it away, And 64take up a lamentation on the bare heights; For the Lord has 65rejected and forsaken The generation of His wrath.’ 30For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have 66set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 31They have 67built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to 68burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I 69did not command, and it did not come into My 70mind.

32“71Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will 72bury in Topheth 73because there is no other place. 33The 74dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will make to 75cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the 76land will become a ruin.