Jeremiah 7

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 Take your place in the doorway of the Lord's house, and give out this word there, and say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who come inside these doors to give worship to the Lord.

"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

3 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these.

Do not trust in lying words, saying, "The LORD's temple, The LORD's temple, The LORD's temple, are these."

5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour;

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:

if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:

7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.

then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.

8 See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.

Look, you trust in lying words, that can't profit.

9 Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;

Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

10 And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things?

and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered"; that you may do all these abominations?

11 Has this house, which is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.

Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it, says the LORD.

12 But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel.

But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer:

Now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer:

14 For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

15 And I will send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim.

I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

16 And as for you (Jeremiah), make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them, make no request for them to me: for I will not give ear.

Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The children go for wood, the fathers get the fire burning, the women are working the paste to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and drink offerings are drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

19 Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame?

Do they provoke me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?"

20 So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out.

Therefore thus says the LORD: "Look, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched."

21 These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.

22 For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts:

For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

23 But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you.

but this thing I commanded them, saying, 'Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'

24 But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward.

But they did not listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

25 From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them:

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

26 But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers.

yet they did not listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers."

27 And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer.

"You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.

28 And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.

You shall tell them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the LORD their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

29 Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up.

Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'"

30 For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean.

"For the people of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight," says the LORD: "they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

31 And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

32 For this cause, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be named Topheth, or, The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of Death: for they will put the dead into the earth in Topheth till there is no more room.

Therefore look, the days come," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The Valley of Ben Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

33 And the bodies of this people will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there will be no one to send them away.

The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

34 And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste."