Jeremiah
Chapter 7
1 God told Jeremiah,
2 Stand at the entrance of God’s house, speak this message, and say, “Listen to God’s word, all you from Judah who come through these gates to worship God.”
3 God, the ruler of all, says to the people of Israel: Change how you live and act, and I will let you live here.
4 Don’t trust in false words that say, “This is God’s temple, God’s temple, God’s temple.”
5 If you truly change your ways and actions; if you honestly apply justice between one person and another;
6 If you do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows, and do not kill innocent people here, and do not follow other gods to your own harm:
7 I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors, forever and always.
8 Look, you believe in false words that are of no use.
9 Will you steal, kill, cheat, lie, worship Baal, and follow unknown gods?
10 Come stand before me in this house, named for me, and say, ‘We are saved so we can do all these wrong things?’
11 Do you see this house, known as my house, as a thieves’ hideout? I have seen it too, says God.
12 Go to the place I chose first in Shiloh, where I made my name known, and see what I did to it because of the evil done by my people Israel.
13 Now, because you have done all these things, says God, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.
14 So I will treat this temple, known by my name where you trust, and the place I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh.
15 I will throw you away from me, like I threw away all your brothers, the entire family of Ephraim.
16 So do not pray for these people, do not beg or plead for them, and do not ask me to help them, because I will not listen to you.
17 Don’t you see what they do in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children collect wood, the fathers start the fire, and the women prepare their bread to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and to offer drinks to other gods, making me angry.
19 Are they making me angry? says God. Aren’t they just confusing themselves?
20 So God says, “Look, I will pour out my anger and fury on this place, on people, animals, trees, and crops. It will burn and not be put out.”
21 God, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.
22 I did not tell your ancestors, nor did I command them about burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt.
23 I told them to obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow all my commands, so things will go well for you.
24 But they didn’t listen or pay attention. Instead, they followed their own plans and desires of their evil hearts. They went backwards, not forwards.
25 Since the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have sent you my prophets, day after day, getting up early to send them.
26 They did not listen to me or pay attention, but they were stubborn, doing worse than their ancestors.
27 So you must tell them all these words, but they will not listen to you; you must also call to them, but they will not respond to you.
28 You should tell them, “This nation does not listen to God’s voice and does not accept correction. Truth is gone and no longer spoken by them.”
29 Shave your head, Jerusalem, throw away your hair, and cry on the hills, because God has rejected and abandoned the people he is angry with.
30 The people of Judah have done wrong in my eyes, says God; they have put their disgusting things in the temple that has my name, to make it dirty.
31 They made worship sites at Tophet in Hinnom valley, to burn their sons and daughters in fire; I never told them to do this, and I never thought of such a thing.
32 So, look, days are coming, says God, that it will not be named Tophet, or the valley of Hinnom’s son, but the valley of killing: for they will bury in Tophet until there is no space.
33 The dead bodies of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth, and no one will scare them away.
34 I will stop the sounds of joy and happiness, and the voices of the bride and groom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, because the land will be empty.