Jeremiah Chapter 7
1 A Message from the LORD to Jeremiah
Jeremiah Speaks at the Temple
2 “Stand in the entrance to the LORD’s Temple and deliver this message, ‘Listen to a message from the LORD, all of you in Judah that go in these gates to worship him! 3 If you mend your ways, I’ll let you live here. 4 Don’t trust in these deceptive words, “This is the LORD’s Temple, the LORD’s Temple, the LORD’s Temple!” 5 If you mend your ways
and practice goodness with one another,
6 if you don’t oppress foreigners, orphans, or widows;
and don’t shed innocent blood here
or follow other gods to your own ruin—
7 then I’ll let you keep living in this land that I gave your ancestors forever.
8 “‘You’re trusting in deceiving words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods you’ve not known? 10 Then will you come and try to depend on me in this Temple that wears my name, and think you’re safe—and go on doing those same detestable things? 11 Do you regard this Temple as a den of thieves? I’ve seen for myself what it is.
Jer 7:1-11
12 “‘Go to Shiloh, which I identified myself with first. See what I did to it because my people sinned. 13 Now you’ve done the same things. I spoke to you about them, getting up early and speaking to you, but you ignored me. I called you, but you wouldn’t answer. 14 So, what I did to Shiloh I’ll do to the Temple that wears my name—that you trust in—and to the place I gave you and your ancestors. 15 I’ll throw you out of my sight into exile like I did your relatives, Ephraim’s offspring.’
16 “Don’t pray for my people, Jeremiah; don’t lift up a petition for them. Don’t intercede with me; I won’t listen. 17 Don’t you see what they’re doing in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out liquid offerings to other gods to spite me. 19 Do they spite me? Aren’t they doing spite to themselves to their own disgrace? 20 So I’ll pour out my anger on people and animals here, trees in the field and produce from the ground. It will burn and not be put out.
Jer 7:12-20
21 “Go on and add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. 22 When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I didn’t speak to them about burnt offerings and sacrifices so much as 23 I commanded them, ‘Obey me, and I’ll be your God, and you’ll be my people. Follow the way I command you so things will go well for you.’ 24 Yet they didn’t listen or obey. They followed their own ideas and conducted themselves according to their stubborn, sinful hearts. They went backward, not forward. 25 From that time till now, I’ve sent you my prophets, getting up early every day and sending them. 26 But you ignored me. You stiffened your neck and did more evil than your ancestors.
Jer 7:21-26
27 “Tell them that, but they won’t listen; call to them, but they won’t answer. 28 Tell them, ‘Truth has disappeared from this nation that didn’t obey the LORD their God or accept correction.
29‘Cut off your hair and throw it away;
take up a lamentation on the barren hills.
The LORD has rejected and abandoned
the generation he’s angry with.’
30 “Judah has done what I’ve forbidden. Its people have put their detestable things in the Temple that wears my name and defiled it. 31 They’ve built high places in Topheth in the Valley of (Ben)Hinnom, and burned their sons and daughters, which I didn’t command. Such a thing never entered my mind! 32 So the time’s coming when it won’t be called Topheth anymore, or The Valley of (Ben)Hinnom. They’ll call it The Valley of Slaughter because they’ll bury in Topheth till there’s no place left to bury. 33 Those people’s dead bodies will feed the birds and animals, and nobody will chase them away. 34 Then I’ll put a stop to the joy and happiness, the voices of bride and groom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. The land will lie in ruins.”
Jer 7:27-34