Add parallel Print Page Options

Jeremiah Speaks at the Temple

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “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! 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. 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!” But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; 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. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! 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!

Read full chapter

Jeremiah’s Proclamation at the Gate of the House of Yahweh

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,[a] “Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, those who enter through these gates to bow in worship to Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in the deceitful words,[b] saying,[c] ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, they are the temple of Yahweh.’ For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor, you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods to your harm,[d] then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors[e] forever and ever.[f]

Look, you are relying for yourselves on deceitful words[g] without benefiting. Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely?[h] And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known? 10 And then you come and you stand before[i] me in this house, which is called by my name,[j] and you say, ‘we are safe to go on doing[k] all of these detestable things.’ 11 Has this house, which is called by my name,[l] become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it,” [m] declares[n] Yahweh.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 7:1 Literally “to say”
  2. Jeremiah 7:4 Literally “the words of the deception”
  3. Jeremiah 7:4 Literally “to say”
  4. Jeremiah 7:6 Literally “to harm to you”
  5. Jeremiah 7:7 Or “fathers”
  6. Jeremiah 7:7 Literally “from eternity and until eternity”
  7. Jeremiah 7:8 Literally “the words of the deception”
  8. Jeremiah 7:9 Literally “to the lie”
  9. Jeremiah 7:10 Literally “to the face of”
  10. Jeremiah 7:10 Literally “my name over it”
  11. Jeremiah 7:10 Literally “for the sake of the doing of”
  12. Jeremiah 7:11 Literally “my name over it”
  13. Jeremiah 7:11 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  14. Jeremiah 7:11 Literally “a declaration of”