Jeremiah’s Temple Message

7 This is the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah: ² “Stand at the gate of the ·Temple [^Lhouse of God] and ·preach [proclaim] this ·message [^Lword] there:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of the nation of Judah! All you who come through these gates to ·worship [bow down to] the Lord, listen to this message! ³ This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; ^Tof hosts], the God of Israel, says: ·Change your lives and do what is right [^LReform/Amend your ways/paths and your deeds]! Then I will ·let you live [or live with you] in this place. ⁴ Don’t ·trust [put confidence in] ·the lies of people who say [^Lfalse words], “This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord [^Cpresumptuously thinking that God will not destroy the city as long as his house is there]!” ⁵ You must ·change your lives and do what is right [^Lreform/amend your ways/paths and your deeds]. Be fair to each other. ⁶ You must not ·be hard on [oppress] ·strangers [resident aliens], orphans, and widows [Deut. 10:18]. Don’t ·kill [^Lspill the blood of] innocent people in this place! Don’t ·follow [^Lgo after] other gods, or they will ·ruin [harm; hurt] your lives. ⁷ If you do these things, I will ·let you live [or live with you] in this land that I gave to your ·ancestors [fathers] ·to keep forever [^Lforever and ever].

⁸ “‘But look, you ·are trusting [have confidence in] ·lies [^Lfalse words], which is useless. ⁹ Will you steal and murder and be guilty of adultery? Will you falsely ·accuse other people [take oaths; swear]? Will you ·burn incense [make offerings] to the god Baal and ·follow [^Lgo after] other gods you have not known? ¹⁰ If you do that, do you think you can come before me and stand in this ·place [^Lhouse] ·where I have chosen to be worshiped [^Lwhich is called by my name]? Do you think you can say, “We are safe!” when you do all these ·hateful things [abominations]? ¹¹ This ·place [^Lhouse] ·where I have chosen to be worshiped [^Lthat is called by my name] is nothing more to you than a ·hideout [den] for robbers [Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46]. I have been watching you, says the Lord.

¹² “‘You people of Judah, go now to the town of Shiloh, where I ·first [formerly] made ·a place to be worshiped [^Lmy name dwell]. See what I did to it because of the evil things the people of Israel had done. ¹³ You [^Cthe people of Judah] have done all these evil things too, says the Lord. I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen to me. I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ So I will destroy the ·place [^Lhouse] ·where I have chosen to be worshiped in Jerusalem [which is called by my name]. You ·trust [have confidence] in that place, which I gave to you and your ·ancestors [fathers], but I will destroy it just as I destroyed Shiloh [1 Sam. 4:1–22; Ps. 78:60–64]. ¹⁵ I will ·push you [throw you] away from me just as I ·pushed [threw] away your ·relatives [^Lbrothers], the people of Israel [^Lall the seed of Ephraim; ^Cthe dominant tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, exiled by the Assyrians in 722 bc]!’

¹⁶ “As for you [^CJeremiah], don’t pray for these people. Don’t cry out for them or ask anything for them or ·beg me to help them [intercede with me], because I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, and the fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women ·make [knead] the dough for cakes of bread, and they offer them to the Queen ·Goddess [^Lof Heaven; ^Cprobably Ishtar or Asherah, important goddesses of the surrounding cultures; 44:17–18]. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to make me angry. ¹⁹ But ·I am not the one [^Lis it I whom…?] the people of Judah are really hurting, says the Lord. ·They are [^LAre they not…?] only hurting themselves and bringing ·shame [humiliation] upon themselves.

²⁰ “‘So this is what the Lord God says: I will pour out my anger and wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees in the field and the ·crops in the [^Lfruit of the] ground. My anger will not be ·put out [extinguished; ^Clike a fire].

Obedience Is More than Sacrifice

²¹ “‘This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; ^Tof hosts], the God of Israel, says: ·Offer [^LAdd your] burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] along with your other sacrifices, and eat the ·meat [^Lflesh] yourselves [^Cit was forbidden to eat the meat of the burnt offering]! ²² When I brought your ·ancestors [fathers] out of Egypt, I did not speak to them and give them commands only about burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] and sacrifices. ²³ I also ·gave them this command [^Lcommanded this word]: ·Obey me [^LListen to my voice], and I will be your God and you will be my people. ·Do all that I command [^LWalk in my way/path] so that ·good things will happen to you [things might be well with you]. ²⁴ But your ·ancestors [fathers] did not listen or ·pay attention [^Lbend their ear] to me. They were stubborn in their evil hearts and ·did whatever they wanted [^Lwalked in their own counsels]. They went backward, not forward. ²⁵ Since the day your ·ancestors [fathers] left Egypt until today, I have sent my servants, the prophets, again and again to you. ²⁶ But your ·ancestors [fathers] did not listen or ·pay attention [^Lbend the ear] to me. ·They were very stubborn [^LTheir necks were stiff] and they did more evil than their ·ancestors [fathers].’

²⁷ “You [^CJeremiah] will tell all these ·things [words] to them [^Cthe people of Judah], but they will not listen to you. You will ·call [preach; proclaim] to them, but they will not answer you. ²⁸ So say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not ·obeyed [^Llistened to the voice of] the Lord its God. These people do ·nothing when I correct them [^Lnot accept the discipline/instruction]. ·They do not tell the truth [^LThe truth perishes]; it ·has disappeared from their lips [^Lis cut off from their mouths].

The Valley of Killing

²⁹ “‘Cut off your hair [^Cthe Hebrew phrase suggests a Nazirite vow and thus consecrated hair; Num. 6:5] and throw it away. Go up to the bare hilltop [3:2] and ·cry out [lament], because the Lord has rejected these people. He has turned his back on ·them, and in his anger will punish them [^Lthe generation that enrages him]. ³⁰ The ·people [descendants; sons] of Judah have done ·what I said was evil [^Levil in my eyes], says the Lord. They have set up their ·hateful [loathsome; abominable] idols in the ·place where I have chosen to be worshiped [^Lhouse that is called by my name] and have made it ·unclean [defiled; ^Cin a ritual sense]. ³¹ The people of Judah have built ·places of worship [^Lhigh places; ^Csites associated with pagan worship or inappropriate worship of God; Deut. 12] at Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom [2 Kin. 23:10–11]. There they burned their own sons and daughters as sacrifices, something I never commanded. It never even entered my ·mind [^Lheart; Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12:31; 18:10]. ³² So, I warn you. The days are coming, says the Lord, when people will not call this place Topheth [^C“Spit”] or the Valley of Ben Hinnom anymore. They will call it the Valley of ·Killing [Slaughter]. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room to bury anyone else [19:1–15]. ³³ Then the ·bodies of the dead [corpses] will become food for the birds of the ·sky [heavens] and for the ·wild animals [^Lanimals of the earth]. There will be no one ·left alive to chase [^Lto frighten] them away. ³⁴ I will end the happy sounds of the bride and bridegroom. There will be no happy sounds in the cities of Judah or in the streets of Jerusalem, because the land will become an empty desert!