Jeremiah 7
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh’s Warning from the Temple Gate
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “(A)Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and you shall call out there this word, and you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship Yahweh!’” 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “(B)Make your ways and your deeds good, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 (C)Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘[a]This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’ 5 For (D)if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly (E)do justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the [b](F)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed (G)innocent blood in this place, nor (H)walk after other gods to your own evil demise, 7 then I will let you (I)dwell in this place, in the (J)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you are trusting in (K)lying words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear while lying, and (L)burn incense to Baal and walk after (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 delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has (P)this house, which is called by My name, become a (Q)robbers’ den in your sight? Behold, (R)I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh.
12 “But go now to My place which was in (S)Shiloh, where I (T)made My name dwell at the first, and (U)see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” declares Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, (V)rising up early and (W)speaking, but you did not hear, and I (X)called you but you did not answer, 14 therefore, I will do to the (Y)house which is called by My name, (Z)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I (AA)did to Shiloh. 15 I will (AB)cast you out of My presence, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the seed of (AC)Ephraim.
16 “As for you, (AD)do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you. 17 Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The [c]children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they (AE)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to (AF)provoke Me. 19 (AG)Do they provoke Me?” declares Yahweh. “Is it not themselves they provoke to the (AH)shame of their own face?” 20 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, My (AI)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the (AJ)trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your (AK)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and (AL)eat flesh. 22 For I did not (AM)speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is [d]what I commanded them, saying, ‘(AN)Listen to My voice, and (AO)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in the entire way which I command you, that it may (AP)be well with you.’ 24 Yet they (AQ)did not listen or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart and [e](AR)went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have (AS)sent you all My slaves the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but (AT)stiffened their neck; they (AU)did more evil than their fathers.
27 “You shall (AV)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will (AW)not answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that (AX)did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God or receive discipline; [f](AY)truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 (AZ)Cut off [g]your hair and cast it away,
And (BA)lift up a funeral lamentation on the bare heights;
For Yahweh has (BB)rejected and abandoned
The generation of His wrath.’
30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares Yahweh, “they have (BC)set their detestable things in the house, which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 They have (BD)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to (BE)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I (BF)did not command, and it did not come upon My heart.
32 “(BG)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “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 (BH)bury in Topheth [h]because there is no other place. 33 The (BI)dead 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. 34 Then I will make to (BJ)cease 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 (BK)land will become a waste place.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 7:4 Lit They are
- Jeremiah 7:6 Or fatherless
- Jeremiah 7:18 Lit sons
- Jeremiah 7:23 Lit the word which
- Jeremiah 7:24 Lit they were
- Jeremiah 7:28 Lit faithfulness
- Jeremiah 7:29 Lit your crown
- Jeremiah 7:32 Or until there is no place left
Jeremiah 7
New Living Translation
Jeremiah Speaks at the Temple
7 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go to the entrance of the Lord’s Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the Lord! Listen to it, all of you who worship here! 3 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:
“‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. 4 But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, “The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here!” 5 But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; 6 only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. 7 Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.
8 “‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? 11 Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!
12 “‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. 13 While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. 14 So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.[a]’
Judah’s Persistent Idolatry
16 “Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. 17 Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! 19 Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”
20 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”
21 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! 22 When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. 23 This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’
24 “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. 25 From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. 26 But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.
27 “Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. 28 Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the Lord their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips. 29 Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’
The Valley of Slaughter
30 “The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it. 31 They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! 32 So beware, for the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them. 33 The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away. 34 I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.
Footnotes
- 7:15 Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
