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Jeremiah 7-9
Christian Standard Bible
Jeremiah 7-9
Christian Standard Bible
False Trust in the Temple
7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord(A) and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.
3 “‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions,(B) and I will allow you to live in this place. 4 Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 5 Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,[a](C) 6 if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow(D) and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, 7 I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors(E) long ago and forever. 8 But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.
9 “‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?(F) 10 Then do you come and stand before me in this house(G) that bears my name and say, “We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”? 11 Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers(H) in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.(I)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Shiloh as a Warning
12 “‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first.(J) See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 Now, because you have done all these things—this is the Lord’s declaration—and because I have spoken to you time and time again[b] but you wouldn’t listen,(K) and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,(L) 14 what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name,(M) the house in which you trust, the place that I gave you and your ancestors. 15 I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’(N)
Do Not Pray for Judah
16 “As for you, do not pray for these people.(O) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me,(P) for I will not listen to you.(Q) 17 Don’t you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,[c](R) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. 19 But are they really provoking me?” (S) This is the Lord’s declaration. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?”
20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, my anger—my burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place,(T) on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”(U)
Obedience over Sacrifice
21 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,(V) 22 for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them(W) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’(X) 24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention(Y) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.(Z) 25 Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets(AA) to you time and time again.[d](AB) 26 However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;(AC) they did more evil than their ancestors.(AD)
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth[e] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. 29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow[f](AE) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,(AF) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.’(AG)
30 “For the Judeans have done what is evil in my sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their abhorrent things(AH) in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.(AI) 31 They have built the high places of Topheth[g](AJ) in Ben Hinnom Valley[h](AK) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,(AL) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.
32 “Therefore, look, the days are coming”(AM)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.(AN) Topheth will become a cemetery,[i] because there will be no other burial place. 33 The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.(AO) 34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,(AP) for the land will become a desolate waste.(AQ)
Death over Life
8 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.(AR) 2 They will be exposed(AS) to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky,(AT) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.(AU) 3 Death will be chosen over life(AV) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.”(AW) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(AX)
If they turn away, do they not return?
5 Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;(AY)
they refuse to return.(AZ)
6 I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.(BA)
7 Even storks in the sky
know their seasons.
Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes[j]
are aware of their migration,
but my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(BB)
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes(BC)
has produced falsehood.
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,(BD)
so what wisdom do they really have?
10 Therefore, I will give(BE) their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,(BF)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have treated the brokenness
of my dear[k] people superficially,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”(BG)
says the Lord.
13 “I will gather them and bring them to an end.”[l](BH)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”
God’s People Unrepentant
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities
and perish there,[m]
for the Lord our God has destroyed[n] us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,(BI)
because we have sinned against the Lord.(BJ)
15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.(BK)
16 From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,(BL)
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers(BM) that cannot be charmed.(BN)
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament over Judah
18 My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.(BO)
19 Listen—the cry of my dear people
from a faraway land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,(BP)
her King not within her?”
Why have they angered me
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?(BQ)
20 Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21 I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.(BR)
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(BS)
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
9 If my head were a flowing spring,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night(BT)
over the slain of my dear[o] people.
2 If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,(BU)
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,(BV)
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.(BW)
3 They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take me into account.(BX)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,(BY)
and every friend spread slander.(BZ)
5 Each one betrays his friend;(CA)
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deception.[p](CB)
In their deception they refuse to know me.(CC)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to refine them and test them,(CD)
for what else can I do
because of my dear[q] people?[r]
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows—
they speak deception.(CE)
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself(CF)
on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,(CG)
everything has fled—they have gone away.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,(CH)
a jackals’ den.(CI)
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12 Who is the person wise enough to understand this?(CJ) Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned my instruction,(CK) which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it. 14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts(CL) and followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.”(CM) 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood(CN) and give them poisonous water to drink.(CO) 16 I will scatter them among the nations(CP) that they and their ancestors have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17 This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn;(CQ)
send for the skillful women.
18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids be soaked with weeping.
19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,(CR)
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to[s] the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21 for Death(CS) has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22 “Speak as follows: ‘This is what the Lord declares: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field,(CT) like newly cut grain(CU) after the reaper with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23 “‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
24 But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me(CV)—
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “‘Look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:(CW) 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.[t] All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.’”(CX)
Footnotes
- 7:5 Lit justly between a man and his neighbor
- 7:13 Lit you rising early and speaking
- 7:18 = a pagan goddess
- 7:25 Lit you, each day rising early and sending
- 7:28 Or Faithfulness
- 7:29 Lit off your consecration
- 7:31 Lit of the fireplace
- 7:31 A valley south of Jerusalem
- 7:32 Lit They will bury in Topheth
- 8:7 Hb obscure
- 8:11 Lit of the daughter of my, also in vv. 19,21,22
- 8:13 Lit Gathering I will end them
- 8:14 Or there be silenced
- 8:14 Or silenced
- 9:1 Lit slain among the daughter of my
- 9:6 LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit
- 9:7 Lit of the daughter of my
- 9:7 LXX, Tg read because of their evils
- 9:20 Lit Your ears must receive
- 9:26 Or who live in distant places
Jeremiah 7-9
New International Version
Jeremiah 7-9
New International Version
False Religion Worthless
7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand(A) at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:
“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways(B) and your actions, and I will let you live(C) in this place. 4 Do not trust(D) in deceptive(E) words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change(F) your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,(G) 6 if you do not oppress(H) the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood(I) in this place, and if you do not follow other gods(J) to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land(K) I gave your ancestors(L) for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting(M) in deceptive(N) words that are worthless.
9 “‘Will you steal(O) and murder,(P) commit adultery(Q) and perjury,[a](R) burn incense to Baal(S) and follow other gods(T) you have not known, 10 and then come and stand(U) before me in this house,(V) which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?(W) 11 Has this house,(X) which bears my Name, become a den of robbers(Y) to you? But I have been watching!(Z) declares the Lord.
12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh(AA) where I first made a dwelling(AB) for my Name,(AC) and see what I did(AD) to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke(AE) to you again and again,(AF) but you did not listen;(AG) I called(AH) you, but you did not answer.(AI) 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh(AJ) I will now do to the house that bears my Name,(AK) the temple(AL) you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 I will thrust you from my presence,(AM) just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’(AN)
16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea(AO) or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen(AP) to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.(AQ) They pour out drink offerings(AR) to other gods to arouse(AS) my anger. 19 But am I the one they are provoking?(AT) declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?(AU)
20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign(AV) Lord says: My anger(AW) and my wrath will be poured(AX) out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.(AY)
21 “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices(AZ) and eat(BA) the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands(BB) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,(BC) 23 but I gave them this command:(BD) Obey(BE) me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.(BF) Walk in obedience to all(BG) I command you, that it may go well(BH) with you. 24 But they did not listen(BI) or pay attention;(BJ) instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.(BK) They went backward(BL) and not forward. 25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again(BM) I sent you my servants(BN) the prophets.(BO) 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention.(BP) They were stiff-necked(BQ) and did more evil than their ancestors.’(BR)
27 “When you tell(BS) them all this, they will not listen(BT) to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.(BU) 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction.(BV) Truth(BW) has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
29 “‘Cut off(BX) your hair and throw it away; take up a lament(BY) on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned(BZ) this generation that is under his wrath.
The Valley of Slaughter
30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil(CA) in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols(CB) in the house that bears my Name and have defiled(CC) it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth(CD) in the Valley of Ben Hinnom(CE) to burn their sons and daughters(CF) in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.(CG) 32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter,(CH) for they will bury(CI) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33 Then the carcasses(CJ) of this people will become food(CK) for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.(CL) 34 I will bring an end to the sounds(CM) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom(CN) in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem,(CO) for the land will become desolate.(CP)
8 “‘At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones(CQ) of the people of Jerusalem will be removed(CR) from their graves. 2 They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served(CS) and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped.(CT) They will not be gathered up or buried,(CU) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(CV) 3 Wherever I banish them,(CW) all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life,(CX) declares the Lord Almighty.’
Sin and Punishment
4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?(CY)
When someone turns away,(CZ) do they not return?
5 Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;(DA)
they refuse to return.(DB)
6 I have listened(DC) attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent(DD) of their wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course(DE)
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know(DF)
the requirements of the Lord.
8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law(DG) of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
9 The wise(DH) will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed(DI) and trapped.(DJ)
Since they have rejected the word(DK) of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom(DL) do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.(DM)
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;(DN)
prophets(DO) and priests alike,
all practice deceit.(DP)
11 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.(DQ)
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame(DR) at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,(DS)
says the Lord.(DT)
13 “‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine.(DU)
There will be no figs(DV) on the tree,
and their leaves will wither.(DW)
What I have given them
will be taken(DX) from them.[b]’”
14 Why are we sitting here?
Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities(DY)
and perish there!
For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and given us poisoned water(DZ) to drink,
because we have sinned(EA) against him.
15 We hoped for peace(EB)
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.(EC)
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses(ED)
is heard from Dan;(EE)
at the neighing of their stallions
the whole land trembles.(EF)
They have come to devour(EG)
the land and everything in it,
the city and all who live there.
17 “See, I will send venomous snakes(EH) among you,
vipers that cannot be charmed,(EI)
and they will bite you,”
declares the Lord.
18 You who are my Comforter[c] in sorrow,
my heart is faint(EJ) within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:(EK)
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King(EL) no longer there?”
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 Since my people are crushed,(EP) I am crushed;
I mourn,(EQ) and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(ER)
Is there no physician(ES) there?
Why then is there no healing(ET)
for the wound of my people?
9 [d]1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!(EU)
I would weep(EV) day and night
for the slain of my people.(EW)
2 Oh, that I had in the desert(EX)
a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,(EY)
a crowd of unfaithful(EZ) people.
3 “They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;(FA)
it is not by truth
that they triumph[e] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge(FB) me,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Beware of your friends;(FC)
do not trust anyone in your clan.(FD)
For every one of them is a deceiver,[f](FE)
and every friend a slanderer.(FF)
5 Friend deceives friend,(FG)
and no one speaks the truth.(FH)
They have taught their tongues to lie;(FI)
they weary themselves with sinning.
6 You[g] live in the midst of deception;(FJ)
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
7 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:
“See, I will refine(FK) and test(FL) them,
for what else can I do
because of the sin of my people?
8 Their tongue(FM) is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,(FN)
but in their hearts they set traps(FO) for them.(FP)
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge(FQ) myself
on such a nation as this?”
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.(FR)
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds(FS) have all fled
and the animals are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap(FT) of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;(FU)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah(FV)
so no one can live there.”(FW)
12 Who is wise(FX) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.(FY) 14 Instead, they have followed(FZ) the stubbornness of their hearts;(GA) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” 15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food(GB) and drink poisoned water.(GC) 16 I will scatter them among nations(GD) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,(GE) and I will pursue them with the sword(GF) until I have made an end of them.”(GG)
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Consider now! Call for the wailing women(GH) to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
18 Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.(GI)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How ruined(GJ) we are!
How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
because our houses are in ruins.’”
20 Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
open your ears to the words of his mouth.(GK)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach one another a lament.(GL)
21 Death has climbed in through our windows(GM)
and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
and the young men(GN) from the public squares.
22 Say, “This is what the Lord declares:
“‘Dead bodies will lie
like dung(GO) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”
23 This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom(GP)
or the strong boast of their strength(GQ)
or the rich boast of their riches,(GR)
24 but let the one who boasts boast(GS) about this:
that they have the understanding to know(GT) me,
that I am the Lord,(GU) who exercises kindness,(GV)
justice and righteousness(GW) on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
25 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh(GX)— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.[h](GY) For all these nations are really uncircumcised,(GZ) and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.(HA)”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 7:9 Or and swear by false gods
- Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 8:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25.
- Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
- Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
- Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)
- Jeremiah 9:26 Or wilderness and who clip the hair by their foreheads
Jeremiah 7-9
King James Version
Jeremiah 7-9
King James Version
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.
12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
34 Then will I 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 shall be desolate.
8 At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.
8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
13 I will surely consume them, saith the Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
9 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
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