Jeremiah 7:1–15

False Trust in the Temple

7This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord ^mand 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, ⁿand I will allow you to live in this place. ⁴Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. ⁵Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, ^op6if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow ^qand no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, ⁷I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors ^rlong ago and forever. ⁸But 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? ^s10Then do you come and stand before Me in this house ^tcalled by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers ^uin your view? Yes, I too have seen it.” ^v

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. ^wSee what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. ¹³Now, because you have done all these things”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and because I have spoken to you time and time again ^xbut you wouldn’t listen, ^yand I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer, ^z14what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name ^a—the house in which you trust—the place that I gave you and your ancestors. ¹⁵I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim. ^b