Jeremiah 7

Message at the Temple Gate

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2“1Stand at 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!’” 3This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “2Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live 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 person and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the 78orphan, or the widow, and do not shed 9innocent blood in this place, nor 10follow other gods to your own ruin, 7then I will let you 11live 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, commit adultery, swear falsely, 1415offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow 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 saved!’--so 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 Myself 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 beginning, 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, 25speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I 26called you but you did not answer, 14therefore I will do to the 27house which is called by My name, 28in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I 29did to Shiloh. 15I will 30hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the 31descendants of 32Ephraim.

16“As for you, 33do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. 17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The 34children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they 35pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to 36provoke Me to anger. 1937Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their 38own 39shame?” 20Therefore this is what the Lord 40God says: “Behold, My 41anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the 42trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

21This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your 43burnt offerings to your sacrifices and 44eat flesh. 22For I did not 45speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23But this is 46what I commanded them, saying, ‘47Obey My voice, and 48I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk 49entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may 50go well for you.’ 24Yet they 51did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they 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, sending them daily, again and again. 26Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but 55stiffened their neck; they 56did more evil than their fathers.

27“So 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. 28And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that 59did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; 6061trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.2962Cut off 63your hair and throw it away, And 64take up a song of mourning 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 66put 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 Ben-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 Ben-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 animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will 75eliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the 76land will become a site of ruins.