Jeremiah 7

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

²“Stand at the gate to the house of the Lord, and preach this word there, and say: Listen to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter through these gates to adore the Lord.

³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Make your ways and your intentions good, and I will live with you in this place.

⁴Do not choose to trust in lying words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!’

⁵For if you direct your ways and your intentions well, if you exercise judgment between a man and his neighbor,

⁶if you do not act with deceit toward the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow, and if you do not pour out innocent blood in this place, and if you do not walk after strange gods, which is to your own harm,

⁷then I will live with you in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from the beginning and even forever.

⁸Behold, you trust in false words, which will not benefit you,

⁹so as to steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer libations to Baal, and to go after strange gods, which you do not know.

¹⁰And you arrived and stood before me in this house, where my name is invoked, and you said: ‘We have been freed because we carried out all these abominations.’

¹¹So then, has this house, where my name has been invoked, become a den of robbers in your eyes? It is I, I am, I have seen, says the Lord.

¹²Go to my place in Shiloh, where my name has lived from the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and because I have spoken to you from your morning rising, and because I was speaking, but you were not listening, and because I have called you, but you have not responded:

¹⁴I will do to this house, in which my name is invoked, and in which you have confidence, even to this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, just as I have done to Shiloh.

¹⁵And I will cast you away from my face, just as I have cast away all your brothers, the entire offspring of Ephraim.

¹⁶Therefore, you should not pray for this people, nor take up praise and supplication on their behalf. And you should not stand in opposition to me. For then I will not heed you.

¹⁷Have you not seen what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The sons gather the wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the wives spread the grease, so as to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to offer libations to strange gods, and so as to provoke me to anger.

¹⁹But are they provoking me to anger, says the Lord? Are they not provoking themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”

²⁰Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, my fury and my indignation is kindled against this place, over men and over beasts, and over the trees of the countryside and over the fruits of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.”

²¹Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your holocausts to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.

²²For concerning the matter of holocausts and sacrifices, I did not speak with your fathers, and I did not instruct them, in the day when I led them away from the land of Egypt.

²³But on this matter I did instruct them, saying: Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. And walk in the entire way that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you.

²⁴But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear. Instead, they walked by their own will and in the depravity of their own wicked heart. And so, they went backward, and not forward,

²⁵from the day when their fathers went forth from the land of Egypt, even to this day. And I have sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, throughout the day, rising at first light and sending them.

²⁶But they have not listened to me, nor have they inclined their ear. Instead, they have stiffened their neck, and they have behaved worse than their fathers did.

²⁷And so, you will speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you. And you will call to them, but they will not respond to you.

²⁸And you will say to them: This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor accepted discipline. Faith has perished and been taken away from their mouth.

²⁹Cut off your hair, and cast it away. And take up a lamentation on high. For the Lord has cast aside and abandoned this generation of his fury.

³⁰For the sons of Judah have done evil in my eyes, says the Lord. They have stationed their abominations in the house where my name is invoked, so that they may defile it.

³¹And they have built the exalted places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the son of Hinnom, so that they may burn their sons and their daughters with fire, something I neither instructed, nor thought in my heart.

³²For this reason, behold, the days will arrive, says the Lord, when it will no longer be called Topheth, nor the Valley of the son of Hinnom, but instead the Valley of Slaughter. Yet they will bury in Topheth, because there will be no other place.

³³And the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air and for the wild beasts of the land, and there will be no one to drive them away.

³⁴And from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, I will cause the cessation of the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride. For the land will be in utter desolation.”

Jeremiah 7

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

²Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda, that enter in at these gates, to adore the Lord.

³Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Make your ways and your doings good: and I will dwell with you in this place.

⁴Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord.

⁵For if you will order well your ways, and your doings: if you will execute judgment between a man and his neighbour,

⁶If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt,

⁷I will dwell with you in this place: in the land, which I gave to your fathers from the beginning and for evermore.

⁸Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit you:

⁹To steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer to Baalim, and to go after strange gods, which you know not.

¹⁰And you have come, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have done all these abominations.

¹¹Is this house then, in which my name hath been called upon, in your eyes become a den of robbers? I, I am he: I have seen it, saith the Lord.

¹²Go ye to my place in Silo, where my name dwelt from the beginning: and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel:

¹³And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord: and I have spoken to you rising up early, and speaking, and you have not heard: and I have called you, and you have not answered:

¹⁴I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in which you trust, and to the place which I have given you and your fathers, as I did to Silo.

¹⁵And I will cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim.

¹⁶Therefore do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will not hear thee.

¹⁷Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.

¹⁹Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own countenance?

²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my indignation is enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

²¹Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye the flesh.

²²For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices.

²³But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.

²⁴But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear: but walked in their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart: and went backward and not forward,

²⁵From the day that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt, even to this day. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, from day to day, rising up early and sending.

²⁶And they have not hearkened to me: nor inclined their ear: but have hardened their neck, and have done worse than their fathers.

²⁷And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer thee.

²⁸And thou shalt say to them: This is a nation which hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction: faith is lost, and is taken away out of their mouth.

²⁹Cut off thy hair, and cast it away: and take up a lamentation on high: for the Lord hath rejected, and forsaken the generation of his wrath,

³⁰Because the children of Juda have done evil in my eyes, saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house in which my name is called upon, to pollute it;

³¹And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons, and their daughters in the fire: which I commanded not, nor thought on in my heart.

³²Therefore behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom: but the valley of slaughter: and they shall bury in Topheth, because there is no place.

³³And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to drive them away.

³⁴And I will cause to cease out of the cities of Juda, and out of the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.