Jeremiah 7

1 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,

2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda, that enter in at these gates, to adore the Lord.

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

3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Make your ways and your doings good: and I will dwell with you in this place.

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

4 Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord.

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

5 For if you will order well your ways, and your doings: if you will execute judgement between a man and his neighbor,

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

6 If you opress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt,

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 I will dwell with you in this place: in the land, which I gave to your fathers from the beginning and for evermore.

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 Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you:

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

9 To steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer to Baalim, and to go after strange gods, which you know not.

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 you have come, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have done all these abominations.

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 Is this house then, in which my name hath been called upon, in your eyes become a den of robbers? I, I am he: I have seen it, saith 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 YHWH.

12 Go ye to my place in Silo, where my name dwelt from the beginning: and see what I did to it for the wickedness 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, saith the Lord: and I have spoken to you rising up early, and speaking, and you have not heard: and I have called you, and you have not answered:

Now, because you have done all these works, says YHWH, 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 I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in which you trust, and to the places which I have given you and your fathers, as I did to Silo.

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 cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole 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 Therefore, do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will not hear thee.

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 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, 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 gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.

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 Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their contenance?

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

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my indignation was enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Therefore thus says YHWH: "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 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye the flesh.

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

22 For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices.

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 thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may be well with 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 hearkened not, nor inclined their ear: but walked in their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart: and went backward 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 that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt, even to this day. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets from day to day, rising up early and sending.

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 And they have not hearkened to me: nor inclined their ear: but have hardened their neck, and have done 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 thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer thee.

"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 thou shalt say to them: This is a nation which hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction: Faith is lost, and is carried away out of their mouth.

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

29 Cut off thy hair, and cast it away: and take up a lamentation on high: for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath,

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

30 Because the children of Juda have done evil in my eyes, saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house in which my name is called upon, to pollute it;

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

31 And they have built the high places of Topeth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons, and their daughters in the fire: which I commanded not, nor thought on in my heart.

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 Therefore behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be called Topeth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom: but the valley of slaughter, and they shall bury in Topeth, because there is no place.

Therefore look, the days come," says YHWH, "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 carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be non to drive 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 I will cause to cease out of the cities of Juda, and out of the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

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."