Jeremias 7

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

² Place thyself in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in by these gates to bow down before the Lord.

³ Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will permit you to dwell in this place.

⁴ But do not rely on the words of falsehood, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, as they say.

⁵ For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;

⁶ If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after other gods to your own hurt:

⁷ Then will I permit you to dwell in this place, in the land that I have given to your fathers, from eternity to eternity.

⁸ Behold, ye rely on the words of falsehood, that cannot profit.

⁹ How? will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Ba’al, and walk after other gods of which ye have no knowledge;

¹⁰ And then come and stand before my presence in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are delivered;" in order to do all these abominations?

¹¹ Is then this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? But I also, behold, I have seen it, saith the Lord.

¹² For go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did unto it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³ And now, whereas ye have done all these acts, saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you, causing the prophets to rise up early and speaking, while ye would not hear; and I called you, but ye would not answer:

¹⁴ Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, whereon ye rely, and unto the place which I have given to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

¹⁵ And I will cast you out of my presence, as I have cast out all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.

¹⁶ But thou––pray not thou in behalf of this people, nor lift up in their behalf entreaty or prayer, nor make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.

¹⁷ Dost thou not see what they are doing 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 dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink–offerings unto other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

¹⁹ Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord, and not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

²⁰ Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Behold my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, over man, and over beast, and over the trees of the field, and over the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and it shall not be quenched.

²¹ Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Add your burnt–offerings unto your peace–sacrifices, and eat the flesh thereof.

²² For I spoke not with your fathers, and I commanded them not on the day of my bringing them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt–offering or sacrifice;

²³ But this thing did I command them, saying, Hearken to my voice, and I will be unto you for a God, and ye shall be unto me for a people; and walk ye altogether on the way which I may command you, in order that it may be well unto you.

²⁴ Yet they hearkened not, and inclined not their ear; but they walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart; and they went backward, and not forward:

²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt until this day; and I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, sending them daily in the morning early;

²⁶ Yet they hearkened not unto me, and inclined not their ear; but they hardened their neck; they did worse than their fathers.

²⁷ And if thou speak unto them all these words, and they will not hearken to thee; and if thou call unto them, and they will not answer thee:

²⁸ Then shalt thou say unto them, This is the nation that hearken not to the voice of the Lord their God, and accept not correction; lost is the truth, and is obliterated from their mouth.

²⁹ Cut off thy flowing hair, and cast it away, and take up on mountain–tops a lamentation; for rejected hath the Lord and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

³⁰ For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, saith the Lord: they have set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

³¹ And they have built the high–places of Thophet, which is in the valley of Ben–hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I had not commanded, and which never came into my mind.

³² Therefore, behold days are coming, saith the Lord, that it shall not be called any more Thophet, or The valley of Ben–hinnom, but The valley of slaughter: and they shall bury in Thophet, for want of room.

³³ And the carcasses of this people shall become food unto the fowls of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth, with none to chase them away.

³⁴ And I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of gladness, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for a desert shall the land become.