Jeremiah 7:1-15
New Catholic Bible
Prophecies Mainly in the Days of Jehoiakim
Chapter 7
True Worship.[a] 1 This is the word of the Lord that was delivered to Jeremiah: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this message: Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is the message that the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, proclaims to you: Amend your ways and your deeds so that I may remain with you in this place. 4 Do not place your trust in these deceptive words: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
5 However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, 7 then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago.
8 You have been placing your trust in deceitful words that are completely worthless. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, engage in perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods about whom you know nothing, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house which bears my name and say, “We are safe,” all the while intending to continue doing these abominable deeds? 11 Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? Be assured that I am fully aware of what you are doing, says the Lord.
12 Go now to my shrine of Shiloh which I originally designated as the dwelling place of my name. There you can observe what I did to it as the result of the wickedness of my people Israel.[b] 13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and refused to listen when I spoke to you continuously, and would not answer when I called you, 14 I therefore will do to the house that bears my name, to this house in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, just what I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Jeremiah 7:1 We are here in the period of Jehoiakim, and there has been a revival of idolatry. But there is another and even more serious danger: the temple and its sacrifices have become a barrier between God and his people. If the people persist in their impious behavior, even offering libations to the goddess of fecundity (v. 18), nothing will be able to save them, and the temple itself will not escape the ruin! The example of another temple, the one in Shiloh, in which even the Ark had rested (see 1 Sam 4:12-18) and the ruin of the entire northern kingdom in 721 B.C. (v. 15) are precedents which ought to make people think.
- Jeremiah 7:12 It is from this verse (and see Jer 26:6) and from Ps 78:60 that we know the end of the sanctuary at Shiloh.
