Jeremiah 6:16-8:7
New American Standard Bible
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the (A)ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
Then (B)you will find a resting place for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 And I set (C)watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, you congregation, what is among them.
19 (D)Hear, earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
The (E)fruit of their [a]plans,
Because they have not listened to My words,
And as for My Law, they have (F)rejected it also.
20 (G)For what purpose does (H)frankincense come to Me from Sheba,
And the [b](I)sweet cane from a distant land?
(J)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
21 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, (K)I am [c]placing stumbling blocks before this people.
And they will stumble against them,
(L)Fathers and sons together;
Neighbor and [d]friend will perish.”
The Enemy from the North
22 This is what the Lord says:
“Behold, there is (M)a people coming from the north land,
And a great nation will be stirred up from the (N)remote parts of the earth.
23 They seize (O)bow and spear;
They are (P)cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice (Q)roars like the sea,
And they ride on horses,
Lined up as a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Zion!”
24 We have (R)heard the report of it;
Our hands are limp.
(S)Anguish has seized us,
Pain like that of a woman in childbirth.
25 (T)Do not go out into the field,
And (U)do not walk on the road;
For the enemy has a sword,
(V)Terror is on every side.
26 Daughter of my people, (W)put on sackcloth
And (X)roll in ashes;
[e](Y)Mourn as for an only son,
A most bitter mourning.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come against us.
27 “I have (Z)made you an assayer and an examiner among My people,
So that you may know and put their way to the test.”
28 All of them are stubbornly rebellious,
(AA)Going about as a slanderer;
They are (AB)bronze and iron.
They are, all of them, corrupt.
29 The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain the refining goes on,
But the (AC)wicked are not [f]separated.
30 (AD)They call them rejected silver,
Because the (AE)Lord has rejected them.
Message at the Temple Gate
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “(AF)Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” 3 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “(AG)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. 4 (AH)Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘[g]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 For (AI)if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly (AJ)practice justice between a person and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the [h](AK)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed (AL)innocent blood in this place, nor (AM)follow other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you (AN)live in this place, in the (AO)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you are trusting in (AP)deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, [i](AQ)offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow (AR)other gods that you have not known, 10 then (AS)come and stand before Me in (AT)this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has (AU)this house, which is called by My name, become a (AV)den of robbers in your sight? Behold, (AW)I Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.
12 “But go now to My place which was in (AX)Shiloh, where I (AY)made My name dwell at the beginning, and (AZ)see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, (BA)speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I (BB)called you but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the (BC)house which is called by My name, (BD)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I (BE)did to Shiloh. 15 I will (BF)hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the [j]descendants of (BG)Ephraim.
16 “As for you, (BH)do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The [k]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they (BI)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to (BJ)provoke Me to anger. 19 (BK)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their [l]own (BL)shame?” 20 Therefore this is what the Lord [m]God says: “Behold, My (BM)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the (BN)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your (BO)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and (BP)eat flesh. 22 For I did not (BQ)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is [n]what I commanded them, saying, ‘(BR)Obey My voice, and (BS)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk [o]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may (BT)go well for you.’ 24 Yet they (BU)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they [p](BV)went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have (BW)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but (BX)stiffened their neck; they (BY)did more evil than their fathers.
27 “So you shall (BZ)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will (CA)not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that (CB)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; [q](CC)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.
29 (CD)Cut off [r]your hair and throw it away,
And (CE)take up a song of mourning on the bare heights;
For the Lord has (CF)rejected and forsaken
The generation of His wrath.’
30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have (CG)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 They have (CH)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to (CI)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I (CJ)did not command, and it did not come into My [s]mind.
32 “(CK)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will (CL)bury in Topheth [t]because there is no other place. 33 The (CM)dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will (CN)eliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the (CO)land will become a site of ruins.
The Sin and Treachery of Judah
8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will (CP)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the (CQ)heavenly [u]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered (CR)nor buried; (CS)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. 3 And (CT)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the (CU)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.
4 “You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Do people (CV)fall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not [v]repent?
5 Why has this people, Jerusalem,
(CW)Turned away in continual apostasy?
They (CX)hold on to deceit,
They (CY)refuse to return.
6 I (CZ)have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
(DA)No one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a (DB)horse charging into the battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
(DC)Knows her seasons;
And the (DD)turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their [w]migration;
But (DE)My people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 6:19 Or devices
- Jeremiah 6:20 Lit good
- Jeremiah 6:21 Lit giving
- Jeremiah 6:21 Lit his friend
- Jeremiah 6:26 Lit Make for yourself mourning
- Jeremiah 6:29 Or drawn off
- Jeremiah 7:4 Lit They are
- Jeremiah 7:6 Or fatherless
- Jeremiah 7:9 Or burn incense
- Jeremiah 7:15 Lit seed
- Jeremiah 7:18 Lit sons
- Jeremiah 7:19 Lit their faces’
- Jeremiah 7:20 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 7:23 Lit the word
- Jeremiah 7:23 Lit in all the way
- Jeremiah 7:24 Lit were
- Jeremiah 7:28 Or faithfulness
- Jeremiah 7:29 Lit your crown
- Jeremiah 7:31 Lit heart
- Jeremiah 7:32 Or until there is no place left
- Jeremiah 8:2 Lit host
- Jeremiah 8:4 Lit turn back
- Jeremiah 8:7 Lit coming
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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