Historical
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.
The Faithlessness of Jerusalem
8 “At that time,” declares Yahweh, “they will (BL)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 And they will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the (BM)host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered (BN)or buried; (BO)they will be as dung on the face of the ground. 3 And (BP)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the (BQ)places to which I have banished them,” declares Yahweh of hosts.
4 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,
“Do men (BR)fall and not get up again?
Does one turn away and not [i]turn back?
5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
[j](BS)Turned away in continual faithlessness?
They (BT)hold fast to deceit;
They (BU)refuse to return.
6 I (BV)have given heed and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
(BW)No man regretted his evil,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his course,
Like a (BX)horse charging into the battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
(BY)Knows her seasons;
And the (BZ)turtledove and the swift and the crane
Keep the time of their [k]migration;
But (CA)My people do not know
The legal judgment of Yahweh.
8 “(CB)How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the law of Yahweh is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men are (CC)put to shame;
They are dismayed and captured;
Behold, they have (CD)rejected the word of Yahweh,
And what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will (CE)give their wives to others,
Their fields to [l]new possessors,
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is (CF)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices lying.
11 They (CG)heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
12 Were they (CH)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They certainly were not ashamed,
And they did not know how to feel dishonor;
Therefore they shall (CI)fall among those who fall;
At the (CJ)time of their [m]punishment they shall be brought down,”
Says Yahweh.
13 “I will (CK)surely gather them up,” declares Yahweh;
“There will be (CL)no grapes on the vine
And (CM)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
14 Why are we sitting still?
(CN)Gather yourselves, and let us (CO)go into the fortified cities
And let us be silent there
Because Yahweh our God has silenced us
And given us [n](CP)poisoned water to drink,
For (CQ)we have sinned against Yahweh.
15 We (CR)waited for peace, but there was no good;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
16 From (CS)Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his (CT)valiant steeds
The whole land quakes;
And they come and (CU)devour the land as well as its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
17 “For behold, I am (CV)sending serpents against you,
Vipers, for which there is (CW)no charm,
And they will bite you,” declares Yahweh.
Sorrow over Zion
18 [o]My (CX)sorrow is beyond healing;
My (CY)heart is faint within me!
19 Behold, the sound! The cry of the daughter of my people from a (CZ)distant land:
“Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they (DA)provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign [p](DB)idols?”
20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended,
And we are not saved.”
21 For the (DC)brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
I (DD)mourn, desolation has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (DE)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
(DF)Why then has not the [q]health of the daughter of my people gone up?
9 [r](DG)Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the (DH)daughter of my people!
2 [s](DI)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place,
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are (DJ)adulterers,
A solemn assembly of (DK)treacherous men.
3 “They (DL)bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,
For they (DM)go onward from evil to evil,
And they (DN)do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.
4 “Let everyone (DO)beware of his neighbor,
And (DP)do not trust any brother,
Because every (DQ)brother [t]surely supplants,
And every neighbor (DR)goes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone (DS)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They (DT)weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Your (DU)habitation is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they (DV)refuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.
7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and (DW)test them;
For (DX)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
8 Their (DY)tongue is a slaughtering arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one (DZ)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he (EA)sets an ambush for him.
9 (EB)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.
“On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?
10 “For the (EC)mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the (ED)wilderness a funeral lamentation,
Because they are (EE)turned into ruin so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the (EF)birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a (EG)heap of ruins,
A haunt of (EH)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a (EI)desolation, without inhabitant.”
12 Who is the (EJ)wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom (EK)the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? (EL)Why has the land perished, turned into ruin like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13 Yahweh said, “Because they have (EM)forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have (EN)walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the (EO)Baals, as their (EP)fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, (EQ)I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them [u](ER)poisoned water to drink. 16 I will (ES)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the (ET)sword after them until I have consumed them.”
17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Carefully consider and call for the (EU)mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the [v](EV)skillful women, that they may come!
18 Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,
That our (EW)eyes may shed tears
And our eyelids flow with water.
19 For a voice of (EX)wailing is heard from Zion,
‘(EY)How we are destroyed!
We are put to great shame,
For we have (EZ)left the land
Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you (FA)women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.
21 For (FB)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the (FC)infants from the streets,
The choice men from the open squares.
22 Speak, “Thus declares Yahweh,
‘The corpses of men will fall (FD)like dung on the open field
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”
23 Thus says Yahweh, “(FE)Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the (FF)mighty man boast in his might; let not a (FG)rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts (FH)boast in this, that he [w]understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who (FI)shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I (FJ)delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet (FK)uncircumcised— 26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and (FL)all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are (FM)uncircumcised of heart.”
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