Jeremiah 7

False Religion Worthless

7This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Stand^m at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“ ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. ³This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your waysⁿ and your actions, and I will let you live^o in this place. ⁴Do not trust^p in deceptive^q words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” ⁵If you really change^r your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,^{s 6}if you do not oppress^t the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood^u in this place, and if you do not follow other gods^v to your own harm, ⁷then I will let you live in this place, in the land^w I gave your ancestors^x for ever and ever. ⁸But look, you are trusting^y in deceptive^z words that are worthless.

⁹“ ‘Will you steal^a and murder,^b commit adultery^c and perjury,^ad burn incense to Baal^e and follow other gods^f you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand^g before me in this house,^h which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?^{i 11}Has this house,^j which bears my Name, become a den of robbers^k to you? But I have been watching!^l declares the Lord.

¹²“ ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh^m where I first made a dwellingⁿ for my Name,^o and see what I did^p to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke^q to you again and again,^r but you did not listen;^s I called^t you, but you did not answer.^{u 14}Therefore, what I did to Shiloh^v I will now do to the house that bears my Name,^w the temple^x you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. ¹⁵I will thrust you from my presence,^y just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’^z

¹⁶“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea^a or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen^b to you. ¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.^c They pour out drink offerings^d to other gods to arouse^e my anger. ¹⁹But am I the one they are provoking?^f declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?^g

²⁰“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign^h Lord says: My angerⁱ and my wrath will be poured^j out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.^k

²¹“ ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices^l and eat^m the meat yourselves! ²²For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commandsⁿ about burnt offerings and sacrifices,^{o 23}but I gave them this command:^p Obey^q me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.^r Walk in obedience to all^s I command you, that it may go well^t with you. ²⁴But they did not listen^u or pay attention;^v instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.^w They went backward^x and not forward. ²⁵From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again^y I sent you my servants^z the prophets.^{a 26}But they did not listen to me or pay attention.^b They were stiff-necked^c and did more evil than their ancestors.’^d

²⁷“When you tell^e them all this, they will not listen^f to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.^{g 28}Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction.^h Truthⁱ has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

²⁹“ ‘Cut off^j your hair and throw it away; take up a lament^k on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned^l this generation that is under his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰“ ‘The people of Judah have done evil^m in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idolsⁿ in the house that bears my Name and have defiled^o it. ³¹They have built the high places of Topheth^p in the Valley of Ben Hinnom^q to burn their sons and daughters^r in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.^{s 32}So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter,^t for they will bury^u the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³Then the carcasses^v of this people will become food^w for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{x 34}I will bring an end to the sounds^y of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom^z in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem,^a for the land will become desolate.^b