Message at the Temple Gate

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “^(A)Stand 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!’” ³ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(B)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. ^4 (C)Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘^[a]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ⁵ For ^(D)if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(E)practice justice between a person and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the ^[b](F)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed ^(G)innocent blood in this place, nor ^(H)follow other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you ^(I)live in this place, in the ^(J)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸ “Behold, you are trusting in ^(K)deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, ^[c](L)offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow ^(M)other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then ^(N)come and stand before Me in ^(O)this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ Has ^(P)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(Q)den of robbers in your sight? Behold, ^(R)I Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.

¹² “But go now to My place which was in ^(S)Shiloh, where I ^(T)made My name dwell at the beginning, and ^(U)see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^(V)speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I ^(W)called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the ^(X)house which is called by My name, ^(Y)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^(Z)did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will ^(AA)hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the ^[d]descendants of ^(AB)Ephraim.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(AC)do 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. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The ^[e]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(AD)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^(AE)provoke Me to anger. ^19 (AF)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^[f]own ^(AG)shame?” ²⁰ Therefore this is what the Lord ^[g]God says: “Behold, My ^(AH)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^(AI)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(AJ)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(AK)eat flesh. ²² For I did not ^(AL)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[h]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(AM)Obey My voice, and ^(AN)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[i]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(AO)go well for you.’ ²⁴ Yet they ^(AP)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[j](AQ)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(AR)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(AS)stiffened their neck; they ^(AT)did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “So you shall ^(AU)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^(AV)not answer you. ²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^(AW)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^[k](AX)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

³⁰ For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have ^(BB)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹ They have ^(BC)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to ^(BD)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I ^(BE)did not command, and it did not come into My ^[m]mind.

³² “^(BF)Therefore, 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 ^(BG)bury in Topheth ^[n]because there is no other place. ³³ The ^(BH)dead 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. ³⁴ Then I will ^(BI)eliminate 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 ^(BJ)land will become a site of ruins.

The Deceitful Heart

The Sabbath Must Be Kept

¹⁹ This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the ^[h]public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem; ²⁰ and say to them, ‘^(AP)Listen to the word of the Lord, you ^(AQ)kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. ²¹ This is what the Lord says: “^(AR)Take care for yourselves, and ^(AS)do not carry any ^[i]load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day ^(AT)nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I ^(AU)commanded your ^[j]forefathers. ²³ Yet they ^(AV)did not listen or incline their ears, but ^(AW)stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline.

²⁴ “But it will come about, if you ^(AX)give your attention to Me,” declares the Lord, “to ^(AY)bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, ^(AZ)but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, ^25 (BA)then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and officials ^(BB)sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this ^(BC)city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶ They will come in from the ^(BD)cities of Judah and from the areas surrounding Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the ^(BE)lowland, from the hill country, and from the ^(BF)Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord. ²⁷ But ^(BG)if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then ^(BH)I will set fire to its gates, and it will ^(BI)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^(BJ)not go out.”’”

The Broken Jar

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a ^(A)potter’s earthenware ^(B)jar, and take some of the ^(C)elders of the people and some of the ^[a](D)senior priests. ² Then go out to the ^(E)Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the ^[b]Potsherd Gate, and ^(F)proclaim there the words that I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you ^(G)kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a ^(H)disaster upon this place, at which the ^(I)ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. ⁴ Since they have ^(J)abandoned Me and have ^(K)made this place foreign, and have burned ^[c]sacrifices in it to ^(L)other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the ^(M)blood of the innocent ⁵ and have built the ^(N)high places of Baal to burn their ^(O)sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My ^[d]mind; ⁶ therefore, behold, ^(P)days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called ^(Q)Topheth or ^(R)the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And I will ^(S)frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and ^(T)I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their ^(U)carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. ⁸ I will also turn this city into an object of ^(V)horror and ^[e]hissing; ^(W)everyone who passes by it will be appalled and ^[f]hiss because of all its ^[g]disasters. ⁹ And I will make them ^(X)eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.”’

¹⁰ “Then you are to break the ^(Y)jar in the sight of the men who accompany you, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “To the same extent I will ^(Z)break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will ^(AA)bury their dead in Topheth, ^[h]because there is no other place for burial. ¹² This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The ^(AB)houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ^(AC)defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the ^(AD)houses on whose rooftops they burned ^[i]sacrifices to ^(AE)all the heavenly ^[j]lights and ^(AF)poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the ^(AG)courtyard of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have ^(AH)stiffened their necks so ^(AI)as not to listen to My words.’”