Trusting in Lying Words
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from theLord, saying,
2 “Stand in the gate of theLord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of theLord, allyouofJudah who enter in at these gates to worship theLord!’ ”
3 Thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel:“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of theLord, the temple of theLord, the temple of theLordarethese.’
5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughlyexecute judgment between a man and his neighbor,
6 ifyou do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place,or walk after other gods to your hurt,
7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, inthe land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you trust inlying words that cannot profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, andwalk after other gods whom you do not know,
10 andthencome and stand before Me in this housewhich is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?
11 Hasthis house, which is called by My name, become aden of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seenit,” says theLord.
12 “But go now toMy place whichwasin Shiloh,where I set My name at the first, and seewhat I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says theLord, “and I spoke to you,rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and Icalled you, but you did not answer,
14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done toShiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of My sight,as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.
16 “Thereforedo not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me;for I will not hear you.
17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; andtheypour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
19 Do they provoke Me to anger?” says theLord. “Dotheynotprovokethemselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
20 Therefore thus says the LordGod: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
21 Thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel:“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.
22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
23 But this is what I commanded them, saying,‘Obey My voice, andI will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, butfollowed the counselsandthe dictates of their evil hearts, andwent backward and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have evensent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sendingthem.
26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, butstiffened their neck.They did worse than their fathers.
27 “Thereforeyou shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Judgment on Obscene Religion
28 “So you shall say to them, ‘Thisisa nation that does not obey the voice of theLordtheir Godnor receive correction.Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off your hair and castitaway, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for theLordhas rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says theLord.“They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.
31 And they have built thehigh places of Tophet, whichisin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, toburn their sons and their daughters in the fire,which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 “Therefore behold,the days are coming,” says theLord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter;for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.
33 Thecorpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frightenthemaway.
34 Then I will cause tocease 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. Forthe land shall be desolate.