The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, ²“Go to the entrance of the Lord’s Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the Lord! Listen to it, all of you who worship here! ³This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:

“ ‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. ⁴But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, “The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here!” ⁵But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; ⁶only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. ⁷Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

⁸“ ‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! ⁹Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, ¹⁰and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? ¹¹Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹²“ ‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. ¹³While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. ¹⁴So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. ¹⁵And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.’

Judah’s Persistent Idolatry

¹⁶“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! ¹⁹Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”

²⁰So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”

²¹This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! ²²When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. ²³This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’

²⁴“But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. ²⁵From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. ²⁶But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.

²⁷“Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. ²⁸Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the Lord their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips. ²⁹Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰“The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it. ³¹They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! ³²So beware, for the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them. ³³The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away. ³⁴I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.

Chapter 8

“In that day,” says the Lord, “the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people of Jerusalem. ²They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure. ³And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

Deception by False Prophets

⁴“Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“ ‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again?

When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?

⁵Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?

Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?

They cling tightly to their lies

and will not turn around.

⁶I listen to their conversations

and don’t hear a word of truth.

Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?

Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”?

No! All are running down the path of sin

as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

⁷Even the stork that flies across the sky

knows the time of her migration,

as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.

They all return at the proper time each year.

But not my people!

They do not know the Lord’s laws.

⁸“ ‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,”

when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?

⁹These wise teachers will fall

into the trap of their own foolishness,

for they have rejected the word of the Lord.

Are they so wise after all?

¹⁰I will give their wives to others

and their farms to strangers.

From the least to the greatest,

their lives are ruled by greed.

Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that.

They are all frauds.

¹¹They offer superficial treatments

for my people’s mortal wound.

They give assurances of peace

when there is no peace.

¹²Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions?

Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush!

Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered.

They will be brought down when I punish them,

says the Lord.

¹³I will surely consume them.

There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes.

Their fruit trees will all die.

Whatever I gave them will soon be gone.

I, the Lord, have spoken!’

¹⁴“Then the people will say,

‘Why should we wait here to die?

Come, let’s go to the fortified towns and die there.

For the Lord our God has decreed our destruction

and has given us a cup of poison to drink

because we sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but no peace came.

We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.’

¹⁶“The snorting of the enemies’ warhorses can be heard

all the way from the land of Dan in the north!

The neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble.

They are coming to devour the land and everything in it—

cities and people alike.

¹⁷I will send these enemy troops among you

like poisonous snakes you cannot charm.

They will bite you, and you will die.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah Weeps for Sinful Judah

¹⁸My grief is beyond healing;

my heart is broken.

¹⁹Listen to the weeping of my people;

it can be heard all across the land.

“Has the Lord abandoned Jerusalem?” the people ask.

“Is her King no longer there?”

“Oh, why have they provoked my anger with their carved idols

and their worthless foreign gods?” says the Lord.

²⁰“The harvest is finished,

and the summer is gone,” the people cry,

“yet we are not saved!”

²¹I hurt with the hurt of my people.

I mourn and am overcome with grief.

²²Is there no medicine in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why is there no healing

for the wounds of my people?

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