Jeremiah 6:16-8:7
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Disaster because of Disobedience
16 This is what the Lord says:
Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths:(A)
Which is the way to what is good?
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves.(B)
But they protested, “We won’t!”
17 I appointed watchmen over you(C)
and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.
But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
18 Therefore listen, you nations
and you witnesses,
learn what the charge is against them.
19 Listen, earth!
I am about to bring disaster on these people,
the fruit of their own plotting,(D)
for they have paid no attention to My word.
They have rejected My instruction.(E)
20 What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba(F)
or sweet cane(G) from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please Me.(H)
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them;(I)
friends and neighbors will also perish.
A Cruel Nation from the North
22 This is what the Lord says:
Look, an army is coming from a northern land;(J)
a great nation will be awakened
from the remote regions of the earth.(K)
23 They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.(L)
Their voice roars like the sea,(M)
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24 We have heard about it,
and we are discouraged.[a]
Distress has seized us—
pain like a woman in(N) labor.(O)
25 Don’t go out to the fields;
don’t walk on the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.(P)
26 My dear[b] people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust.(Q)
Mourn as you would for an only son,(R)
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer(S) will come on us.(T)
Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner
27 I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people—
a refiner[c]—
so you may know and assay their way of life.(U)
28 All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander.(V)
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.(W)
29 The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
30 They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them.(X)
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(Y) 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 Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds,(Z) 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 change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,[d](AA) 6 if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow(AB) 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(AC) 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?(AD) 10 Then do you come and stand before Me in this house(AE) called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers(AF) in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.”(AG)
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.(AH) 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[e] but you wouldn’t listen,(AI) and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,(AJ) 14 what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name(AK)—the house in which you trust—the place that I gave you and your ancestors. 15 I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.(AL)
Do Not Pray for Judah
16 “As for you, do not pray for these people.(AM) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me,(AN) for I will not listen to you.(AO) 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,[f](AP) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger. 19 But are they really provoking Me?”(AQ) 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,(AR) on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”(AS)
Obedience Over Sacrifice
21 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,(AT) 22 for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them(AU) 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. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.(AV) 24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention(AW) but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.(AX) 25 Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets(AY) to you time and time again.[g](AZ) 26 However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;[h](BA) they did more evil than their ancestors.(BB)
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 You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth[i] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. 29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow[j](BC) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,(BD) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.(BE)
30 “For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “They have set up their detestable things(BF) in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.(BG) 31 They have built the high places of Topheth[k](BH) in the Valley of Hinnom[l](BI) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,(BJ) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.[m]
32 “Therefore, take note! Days are coming”(BK)—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.(BL) Topheth will become a cemetery,[n] 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.(BM) 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,(BN) for the land will become a desolate waste.(BO)
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. 2 They will be exposed(BP) to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly host,(BQ) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil.(BR) 3 Death will be chosen over life(BS) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(BT)
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;(BU)
they refuse to return.(BV)
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.(BW)
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her seasons.
The turtledove, swallow, and crane[o]
are aware of their migration,
but My people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(BX)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 6:24 Lit and our hands fail
- Jeremiah 6:26 Lit Daughter of My
- Jeremiah 6:27 Text emended; MT reads fortress
- Jeremiah 7:5 Lit justly between a man and his neighbor
- Jeremiah 7:13 Lit you rising early and speaking
- Jeremiah 7:18 = a pagan goddess
- Jeremiah 7:25 Lit you, each day rising early and sending
- Jeremiah 7:26 Lit but stiffened their neck
- Jeremiah 7:28 Or Faithfulness
- Jeremiah 7:29 Lit off your consecration
- Jeremiah 7:31 Lit of the fireplace
- Jeremiah 7:31 A valley south of Jerusalem
- Jeremiah 7:31 Lit command, and it did not arise on My heart
- Jeremiah 7:32 Lit They will bury in Topheth
- Jeremiah 8:7 Hb obscure
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