Jeremiah 7
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)
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
Jeremiah 7
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.
Jeremiah 7
Wycliffe Bible
7 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said, (The word of the Lord that was made to Jeremiah, and said,)
2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and preach there this word, and say, All Judah, that enter [in] by these gates for to worship the Lord, hear ye the word of the Lord. (Stand at the gate of the House of the Lord, and preach there this word, and say, All Judah, who enter in by these gates to worship the Lord, hear ye the word of the Lord.)
3 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Make ye good your ways, and your studies, and I shall dwell with you in this place. (The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, Make ye good your ways, and your deeds, and I shall live with you in this place.)
4 Do not ye trust in the words of leasing, and say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is (this place!). (Do not ye trust in lies, and then say, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, this is the Temple of the Lord!)
5 For if ye bless your ways, and your studies; if ye do doom betwixt a man and his neighbour; (But if ye mend your ways, and your deeds; if ye do rightly, or justly, between a man and his neighbour;)
6 if ye make not false challenge to a comeling, and to a fatherless child, and to a widow; neither shed out innocent blood in this place, and go not after alien gods, into evil to yourselves, (if ye do not oppress a newcomer, and a fatherless child, and a widow; nor shed out innocent blood in this place, and do not go after strange, or foreign, gods, into evil for yourselves,)
7 I shall dwell with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers, from the world and till into the world. (then I shall live with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.)
8 Lo! ye trust to you in the words of leasing, that shall not profit to you; (Lo! ye trust in the words of lies, that shall not profit you;)
9 to steal, to slay, to do adultery, to swear falsely, to make sacrifice to Baalim, and to go after alien gods, which ye know not. (and ye steal, and kill, and do adultery, and swear falsely, and make sacrifice to Baal, and go after strange, or foreign, gods, which ye know not.)
10 And ye came, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called to help; and ye said, We be delivered, for we have done all these abominations. (And then ye come, and stand before me in this House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name; and ye say, We be safe, even though we have done all these abominations.)
11 Whether therefore this house, wherein my name is called to help before your eyes, is made a den of thieves? I, I am, I saw, saith the Lord. (And so hath this House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name, been made a den of thieves in your eyes? Yea, and I myself have seen it, saith the Lord.)
12 Go ye to my place in Shiloh, where my name dwelled at the beginning, and see ye what things I did to it, for the malice of my people Israel.
13 And now, for ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake to you, and rose (up) early, and I spake, and ye heard not (and ye did not listen), and I called you, and ye answered not;
14 I shall do to this house, wherein my name is called to help, and in which house ye have trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. (so now I shall do to this House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name, and in which House ye have trust, yea, to the place which I gave to you and your forefathers, what I did to Shiloh.)
15 And I shall cast you forth from my face, as I casted forth all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore do not thou pray for this people, neither take thou praising and prayer for them; and against-stand thou not me, for I shall not hear thee. (And so do not thou pray for this people, neither make thou praising or prayer for them; and do not thou stand before me for them, for I shall not listen to thee.)
17 Whether thou seest not, what these men do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The sons gather sticks, and the fathers kindle a fire; and women sprinkle together (the) inner fatness, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, (and) to make sacrifice (of wine) to alien gods, and to stir me to wrathfulness. (The sons gather sticks, and their fathers kindle a fire, and the women altogether sprinkle the inner fatness, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they also offer a wine offering to strange, or foreign, gods, all to stir me to anger.)
19 Whether they stir me to wrathfulness? saith the Lord; whether they stir not themselves into [the] shame of their cheer? (Do they hurt me? saith the Lord; rather, do they not cover themselves with shame?)
20 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! my strong vengeance and mine indignation is welled together on this place, on men, and on beasts, and on the tree(s) of the country(side), and on the fruits of [the] earth; and it shall be kindled, and it shall not be quenched.
21 The Lord of hosts, (the) God of Israel, saith these things, Heap ye your burnt sacrifices (on)to your slain sacrifices, and eat ye fleshes.
22 For I spake not with your fathers, and I commanded not to them of the word of burnt sacrifices, and of slain sacrifices, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt. (For I spoke not to your forefathers, and I commanded not to them about burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, on the day when I led them out of the land of Egypt.)
23 But I commanded this word to them, and I said, Hear ye my voice, and I shall be God to you, and ye shall be a people to me; and go ye in all the way which I commanded to you, that it be well to you. (But I commanded this word to them, and I said, Listen ye to my voice, and I shall be your God, and ye shall be my people; and go ye in all the ways to which I command you, so that it can be well with you.)
24 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, but they went in their lusts, and in the shrewdness of their evil heart; and they be made behind, and not before, (But they did not listen to me, nor bowed down their ear, but they went in their lusts, and in the depravity of their own evil hearts; and so they be made behind, and not before,)
25 from the day in which their fathers went out of the land of Egypt till to this day. And I sent to you all my servants (the) prophets, and I rose early by the day, and I sent (yea, I rose up early in the day, and I sent them).
26 And they heard not me, neither bowed down their ear; but they made hard their noll, and wrought worse than the fathers of them. (But they did not listen to me, nor bowed down their ear; but they stiffened their necks, or were stubborn, and did worse than their forefathers.)
27 And thou shalt speak to them all these words, and they shall not hear thee; and thou shalt call them, and they shall not answer to thee. (And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they shall not listen to thee; and thou shalt call them, but they shall not answer thee.)
28 And thou shalt say to them, This is the folk, that heard not the voice of their Lord God, neither received chastising; faith perished, and is taken away from the mouth of them. (And thou shalt say to them, This is the nation, that did not listen to, or obey, the voice of the Lord their God, nor accepted his discipline, or his correction; truth perished, and is taken away from their mouths.)
29 Clip thine hair, and cast (it) away, and take thou wailing straightly (and take up thou wailing on high places); for the Lord hath cast away, and hath forsaken the generation of his strong vengeance.
30 For the sons of Judah have done evil before mine eyes, saith the Lord; they have set their offendings in the house, in which my name is called to help, that they should defoul that house; (For the people of Judah have done evil before my eyes, saith the Lord; they have put their offences in the House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name, so that they would defile that House;)
31 and they builded high things in Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that they should burn their sons and their daughters by fire, which things I commanded not, neither thought in mine heart. (and they built the high places, or the hill shrines, of Tophet, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, so that they could burn their sons and their daughters with fire, which things I did not command, nor ever thought of in my heart.)
32 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be said Tophet, and the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaying; and they shall bury in Tophet, for there is no (other) place. (And so lo! days shall come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be called Tophet, and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but, rather, the Valley of Slaughter; and they shall bury them in Tophet, for there is no other place for them.)
33 And the dead carrion of this people shall be into meat to the birds of heaven, and to the beasts of (the) earth; and none there shall be that shall drive away. (And the dead bodies of these people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, or of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one who shall scare them away.)
34 And I shall make to cease the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness (And I shall make to cease the sound of joy, and the sound of happiness), and the voice of [the] spouse, and the voice of [the] spousess from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall be in desolation.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
2001 by Terence P. Noble