Jeremiah 7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
II. Oracles Primarily from the Days of Jehoiakim
Chapter 7
The Temple Sermon.[a] 1 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message there: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord! 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds so that I may dwell with you in this place.(A) 4 Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!”(B) 5 Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; 6 if you no longer oppress the alien,[b] the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm,(C) 7 only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.(D)
8 But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss! 9 Do you think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not know,(E) 10 and then come and stand in my presence in this house, which bears my name, and say: “We are safe! We can commit all these abominations again!”?(F) 11 Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I have seen it for myself!—oracle of the Lord.(G) 12 Go to my place at Shiloh,[c] where I made my name dwell in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.(H) 13 And now, because you have committed all these deeds—oracle of the Lord—because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly, and because you did not answer, though I called you, 14 I will do to this house, which bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh.(I) 15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away all your kindred, all the offspring of Ephraim.(J)
Abuses in Worship. 16 You, now, must not intercede for this people! Do not raise a cry or prayer in their behalf!(K) Do not press me, for I will not listen to you! 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven,[d] while libations are poured out to other gods—all to offend me!(L) 19 Are they really offending me—oracle of the Lord—or rather themselves, to their own disgrace?(M) 20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon human being and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn and not be quenched.(N)
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices; eat up the meat! 22 In speaking to your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command[e] concerning burnt offering or sacrifice. 23 This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper.(O)
24 But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.(P) 25 From the day that your ancestors left the land of Egypt even to this day, I kept on sending all my servants the prophets to you.(Q) 26 Yet they have not listened to me nor have they paid attention; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their ancestors.(R) 27 When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you. 28 Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
29 (S)Cut off your hair[f] and throw it away!
on the heights raise a lament;
The Lord has indeed rejected and cast off
the generation that draws down his wrath.
30 The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes—oracle of the Lord. They have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, thereby defiling it.(T) 31 In the Valley of Ben-hinnom[g] they go on building the high places of Topheth to sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire, something I never commanded or considered. 32 Be assured! Days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when they will no longer say “Topheth” or “Valley of Ben-hinnom” but “Valley of Slaughter.” For want of space, Topheth will become burial ground.(U) 33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and beasts of the earth, which no one will drive away.(V) 34 I will silence the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will be turned to rubble.(W)
Footnotes
- 7:1–15 The Temple of the Lord will not guarantee safety against enemy invasion or any other misfortune.
- 7:6 The alien: specially protected within Israelite society; cf. Ex 22:20; Nm 9:14; 15:14; Dt 5:14; 28:43.
- 7:12 Shiloh: an important sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was kept, according to the Books of Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel. In response to the corrupt behavior of the priests serving there, God allows the Philistines to destroy Shiloh and take the ark of the covenant. Cf. 1 Sm 1:9; 4:3–4; Ps 78:60, 68–69.
- 7:18 Queen of Heaven: probably Astarte, goddess of fertility (cf. 1 Sm 31:10; 1 Kgs 11:5), worshiped particularly by women (cf. Jer 44:15–19). Such worship was evidently reinforced during the reign of King Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:3–7) and was revived after Josiah’s death.
- 7:22 I gave them no command: right conduct rather than formal ritual was God’s will concerning his people (v. 23).
- 7:29 Hair: the unshorn hair of the nazirite, regarded as sacred because of a vow, temporary or permanent, to abstain from cutting or shaving the hair; nazirites also avoided contact with a corpse and with all products of the vine; cf. Nm 6:4–8. The cutting of this hair was a sign of extreme mourning.
- 7:31 Valley of Ben-hinnom: this valley was probably south of Jerusalem. Topheth: perhaps, “fire pit.”
Jeremiah 7
King James Version
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
3 Thus saith 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 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.
12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17 Seest thou not 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 their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon 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; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
34 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 be desolate.
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