Jeremiah 7:24–34

²⁴Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention ⁿbut followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward. ^o25Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets ^pto you time and time again. ^qr26However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate; ^stthey did more evil than their ancestors. ^u

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. ²⁸You 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 ^vhas perished—it has disappeared from their mouths. ²⁹Cut off the hair of your sacred vow ^wxand throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, ^yfor the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath. ^z

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 ^ain the house that is called by My name and defiled it. ^b31They have built the high places of Topheth ^cdin the Valley of Hinnom ^efin order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, ^ga thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought. ^h

³²“Therefore, take note! Days are coming” ⁱ—the Lord’s declaration—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ^jTopheth will become a cemetery, ^kbecause there will be no other burial place. ³³The 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. ^l34I 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, ^mfor the land will become a desolate waste. ⁿ