3
“This is what the
Lord
of
•Hosts
, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place.
4
Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the
Lord
, the temple of the
Lord
, the temple of the
Lord
.
5
Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,
6
if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,
7
I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever.
8
But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.
9
“Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to
•Baal
, and follow other gods that you have not known?
10
Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts'?
11
Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.”
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Shiloh As a Warning
12
“But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel.
13
Now, because you have done all these things” — this is the
Lord
's declaration — “and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn't listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn't answer,
14
what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name — the house in which you trust — the place that I gave you and your ancestors.
15
I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
Do Not Pray for Judah
16
“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.
17
Don't you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18
The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out
•drink
offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger.
19
But are they really provoking Me? ” This is the
Lord
's declaration. “Isn't it they themselves being provoked to disgrace? ”
20
Therefore, this is what the Lord
God
says: “Look, My anger — My burning wrath — is about to be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”
Obedience Over Sacrifice
21
This is what the
Lord
of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Add your
•burnt
offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,
22
for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.
23
However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.
24
Yet they didn't listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.
25
Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets to you time and time again.
26
However, they wouldn't listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;they did more evil than their ancestors.
A Lament for Disobedient Judah
27
“When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.
28
You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the
Lord
their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished — it has disappeared from their mouths.
29
Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the
Lord
has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.
30
“For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight.” This is the
Lord
's declaration. “They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.
31
They have built the
•high
places of
•Topheth
in the Valley of Hinnom in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.
32
“Therefore, take note! Days are coming” — the
Lord
's declaration — “when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place.
33
The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.
34
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste.
Jeremiah
Death over Life
8
“At that time” — this is the
Lord
's declaration — “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.
2
They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly
•host
, which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil.
3
Death will be chosen over life by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” This is the declaration of the
Lord
of Hosts.
4
“You are to say to them: This is what the
Lord
says:
Do people fall and not get up again?
If they turn away, do they not return?
5
Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;
they refuse to return.
6
I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?'
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.
7
Even the stork in the sky
knows her seasons.
The turtledove, swallow, and crane
are aware of their migration,
but My people do not know
the requirements of the
Lord
.
Punishment for Judah's Leaders
8
“How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the
Lord
is with us'?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes
has produced falsehood.
9
The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the
Lord
,
so what wisdom do they really have?
10
Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11
They have treated superficially the brokenness
of My dear people,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace.
12
Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren't at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”
says the
Lord
.
13
I will gather them and bring them to an end.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.
God's People Unrepentant
14
Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the
Lord
our God has destroyed us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the
Lord
.
15
We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
16
From Dan the snorting of horses
is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17
Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed.
They will bite you.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Lament over Judah
18
My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.
19
Listen — the cry of my dear people
from a far away land,
“Is the
Lord
no longer in
•Zion
,
her King not within her? ”
Why have they provoked me to anger
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?
20
Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21
I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
Jeremiah
Chapter 9
1
If my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
over the slain of my dear people.
2
If only I had a traveler's lodging place
in the wilderness,
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.
3
They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take Me into account.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4
Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don't trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,
and every friend spread slander.
5
Each one betrays his friend;
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6
You live in a world of deception.
In their deception they refuse to know Me.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
7
Therefore, this is what the
Lord
of
•Hosts
says:
I am about to refine them and test them,
for what else can I do
because of My dear people?
8
Their tongues are deadly arrows —
they speak deception.
With his mouth
a man speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9
Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?
10
I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,
everything has fled — they have gone away.
11
I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,
a jackals' den.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.