THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH
Jeremiah 7 ©
God causes His people to be exhorted to true repentance and cease from their vain confidence in the outward worship of God and the temple, with a reproof of their wicked and impudent abuse thereof, v. 1, etc. He threatens them with the example of Shiloh, 12. He forbids the prophet to pray for the people, because of their idolatrous outrages, 16. He rejects their offerings, and requires obedience, instead of former and present disobedience, 21. He exhorts them to mourn for the abominations of Tophet, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 29.
THE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Stand in the gate of the LORD’S 1house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates 2to worship the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 3Amenda your ways and your doings, and I will 4cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust ye not in 5lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are 6these.
For if ye 7throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgmentb between a man and his neighbour;
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless,c and the widow, and shed not innocentd blood in this place, neither walk after other gods 8to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, 9for ever and ever.
¶Behold, ye trust in 10lying words, that cannot profit.
11Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
And come and stand before me in this house, 12which is called by my name, and say, 13We are delivered 14to do all these abominations?
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a dene of 15robbers in 16your eyes? 17Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I 18set my name at the 19first, and see 20whatf I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up 21earlyg and speaking, but ye heard not; and I calledh you, but ye answered not;
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, 22as I have done to Shiloh.
And I will cast you out 23of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of 24Ephraim.
25Therefore prayi not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither 26make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
¶Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Thej27children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to 28make 29cakes to the 30queenk of heaven, and to 31pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may 32provoke me to anger.
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: 33do they not provoke themselves tol the confusion of their own faces?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon 34man, 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.
¶Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; 35Putm your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake 36not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obeyn my voice, ando I will be your 37God, and ye shall be my 38people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the 39imaginationp of their evil heart, and 40wentq backward, and not 41forward.
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 42early and sending them:
Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their 43neck:r they did worse than their fathers.
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.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction:s44trutht is perished, and is 45cut off from their mouth.
¶ 46Cutu off thine 47hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the 48generation of his 49wrath.
For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their 50abominations in the 51house 52which is called by my name, to pollute it.
And they have built the highv places of 53Tophet, which is in the valley of the 54son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I 55commanded them not, neither came it into my 56heart.
¶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 57they shall bury in 58Tophet, 59till there be no place.
60Andw the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall 61frayxthem away.
Theny 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.z