Jeremiah 7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 “Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this word there. Say: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.'
3 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place.'
4 Do not trust in deceptive words that say, ‘These are the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’
5 For you must truly amend your ways and your deeds, and truly uphold justice between one person and another.
6 Do not oppress the resident foreigner, the orphan, or the widow; do not shed innocent blood in this place; and do not follow other gods, to your own harm.
7 Then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors, forever and ever.
8 But you are trusting in deceptive words that are of no use.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods you have not known?
10 Then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?
11 Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? I have seen it too, declares the LORD.”’”
12 “‘Go now to my place at Shiloh, where I first made my name dwell, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, I have spoken to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.
14 I will do to this house, which bears my name and in which you trust, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, what I did to Shiloh.
15 I will cast you out of my presence, just as I cast out all your kin, the whole offspring of Ephraim.’”
16 “As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not raise a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me.
19 Is it me they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not provoking themselves, to their own shame?
20 Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘See, my anger and my fury are being poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground. They will burn, and no one will put them out.’
21 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the meat.
22 For when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices.
23 Rather, this is what I commanded them: “Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in every way I command you, so that it may go well with you.”’”
24 “But they did not listen or pay attention. They followed their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward instead of forward.
25 From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, day after day, again and again.
26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They stiffened their necks and did worse than their ancestors.
27 You will speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You will call to them, but they will not answer.
28 Then say to them: ‘This is the nation that did not listen to the voice of the LORD its God and did not accept correction. Faithfulness has perished and vanished from their mouths.’
29 Cut off your consecrated hair and throw it away. Raise a lament on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that provoked his wrath.
30 For the people of Judah have done what is evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have placed their detestable things in the house that bears my name, defiling it.
31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I did not command this, nor did it ever enter my heart.
32 Therefore, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury at Topheth because there will be no room.
33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them away.
34 I will put an end in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem to the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride, for the land will become a wasteland.”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app