Jeremiah 7 - 11 - Legacy Standard Bible

Jeremiah 7 - 11

Yahweh’s Warning from the Temple Gate

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and you shall call out there this word, and you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship Yahweh!’” 3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’ 5 For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own evil demise, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. 8 “Behold, you are trusting in lying words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear while lying, and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a robbers’ den in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh. 12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” declares Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called 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 the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of My presence, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the seed of Ephraim. 16 “As for you, do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you. 17 Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me. 19 Do they provoke Me?” declares Yahweh. “Is it not themselves they provoke to the shame of their own face?” 20 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.” 21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. 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 and sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in the entire way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My slaves the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers. 27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not listen to the voice of Yahweh their God or receive discipline; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29

Cut off your hair and cast it away,

And lift up a funeral lamentation on the bare heights;

For Yahweh has rejected and abandoned

The generation of His wrath.’

30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares Yahweh, “they have set their detestable things in the house, which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come upon My heart. 32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. 33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from 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 will become a waste place.

The Faithlessness of Jerusalem

“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 And they will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground. 3 And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have banished them,” declares Yahweh of hosts. 4 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,

“Do men fall and not get up again?

Does one turn away and not turn back?

Why then has this people, Jerusalem,

Turned away in continual faithlessness?

They hold fast to deceit;

They refuse to return.

I have given heed and heard,

They have spoken what is not right;

No man regretted his evil,

Saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his course,

Like a horse charging into the battle.

Even the stork in the sky

Knows her seasons;

And the turtledove and the swift and the crane

Keep the time of their migration;

But My people do not know

The legal judgment of Yahweh.

“How can you say, ‘We are wise,

And the law of Yahweh is with us’?

But behold, the lying pen of the scribes

Has made it into a lie.

The wise men are put to shame;

They are dismayed and captured;

Behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh,

And what kind of wisdom do they have?

Therefore I will give their wives to others,

Their fields to new possessors,

Because from the least even to the greatest

Everyone is greedy for gain;

From the prophet even to the priest

Everyone practices lying.

They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?

They certainly were not ashamed,

And they did not know how to feel dishonor;

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,”

Says Yahweh.

“I will surely gather them up,” declares Yahweh;

“There will be no grapes on the vine

And no figs on the fig tree,

And the leaf will wither;

And what I have given them will pass away.”’”

Why are we sitting still?

Gather yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities

And let us be silent there

Because Yahweh our God has silenced us

And given us poisoned water to drink,

For we have sinned against Yahweh.

We waited for peace, but there was no good;

For a time of healing, but behold, terror!

From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;

At the sound of the neighing of his valiant steeds

The whole land quakes;

And they come and devour the land as well as its fullness,

The city and its inhabitants.

“For behold, I am sending serpents against you,

Vipers, for which there is no charm,

And they will bite you,” declares Yahweh.

Sorrow over Zion

My sorrow is beyond healing;

My heart is faint within me!

Behold, the sound! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:

“Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign idols?”

“Harvest is past, summer is ended,

And we are not saved.”

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;

I mourn, desolation has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people gone up?

Oh that my head were waters

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the desert

A travelers’ lodging place,

That I might leave my people

And go from them!

For all of them are adulterers,

A solemn assembly of treacherous men.

“They bend their tongue like their bow;

Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,

For they go onward from evil to evil,

And they do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.

“Let everyone beware of his neighbor,

And do not trust any brother,

Because every brother surely supplants,

And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

Everyone deceives his neighbor

And does not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They weary themselves committing iniquity.

Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.

7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, I will refine them and test them;

For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow;

It speaks deceit;

With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,

But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.

“On a nation such as this

Shall I not avenge Myself?

“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,

And for the pastures of the wilderness a funeral lamentation,

Because they are turned into ruin so that no one passes through,

And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

A haunt of jackals;

And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, turned into ruin like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13 Yahweh said, “Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.” 17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Carefully consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;

And send for the skillful women, that they may come!

Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,

That our eyes may shed tears

And our eyelids flow with water.

For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,

‘How we are destroyed!

We are put to great shame,

For we have left the land

Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you women,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.

For death has come up through our windows;

It has entered our palaces

To cut off the infants from the streets,

The choice men from the open squares.

Speak, “Thus declares Yahweh,

‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field

And like the sheaf after the reaper,

But no one will gather them.’”

23 Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh. 25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”

Yahweh Alone Is the Living God

Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says Yahweh,

“Do not learn the way of the nations,

And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens

Although the nations are terrified by them;

For the statutes of the peoples are vanity

Because it is wood cut from the forest,

The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

They make it beautiful with silver and with gold;

They strengthen it with nails and with hammers

So that it will not totter.

Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,

And they cannot speak;

They must be carried

Because they cannot take a step!

Do not fear them,

For they can do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

There is none like You, O Yahweh;

You are great, and great is Your name in might.

Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?

Indeed it is Your due!

For among all the wise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

But they are altogether senseless and foolish;

They are in a discipline of vanities—it is mere wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,

And gold from Uphaz,

The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all the work of wise craftsmen.

But Yahweh is the true God;

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

At His wrath the earth quakes,

And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

11 Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12

It is He who made the earth by His power,

Who established the world by His wisdom;

And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

When He gives forth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images;

For his molten images are a lie,

And there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, a work of mockery;

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

The portion of Jacob is not like these;

For the Maker of all is He,

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;

Yahweh of hosts is His name.

Gather up your bundle from the ground,

You who inhabit a land under siege!

18 For thus says Yahweh,

“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land

At this time,

And will cause them distress,

That they may find it.”

Woe is me, because of my injury!

My wound is desperately sick.

But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,

And I must bear it.”

My tent is destroyed,

And all my ropes are torn out;

My sons have gone from me and are no more.

There is no one to stretch out my tent again

Or to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds have become senseless

And have not sought Yahweh;

Therefore they have not prospered,

And all their flock is scattered.

The sound of a report! Behold, it comes—

A great quaking out of the land of the north—

To make the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

I know, O Yahweh, that a man’s way is not in himself,

Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

Discipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice;

Not with Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You

And on the families that do not call Your name,

For they have devoured Jacob;

They have devoured him and consumed him

And have made desolate his abode.

The Broken Covenant

The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and you shall speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 in order to establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I answered and said, “Amen, O Yahweh.” 6 And Yahweh said to me, “Call out all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant so that you will do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising up early and warning, saying, “Listen to My voice.” 8 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’” 9 Then Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have walked after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I cut with their fathers.” 11 Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am bringing calamity on them which they will not be able to get out of; and they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their calamity. 13 For your gods are the number of your cities, O Judah; and the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. 14 “But as for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their calamity. 15

What possession has My beloved in My house

When she has done many schemes of wickedness?

Can the flesh, which is set apart as holy, take away from you your calamity,

So that you can exult?”

Yahweh called your name,

“A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”;

With the noise of a great tumult

He has kindled fire on it,

And its foliage has an evil demise.

17 Yahweh of hosts, who planted you, has spoken forth evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.

Men Seek Jeremiah’s Life

Moreover, Yahweh made it known to me, and I knew it;

Then You showed me their deeds.

But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;

And I did not know that they had devised thoughts against me, saying,

“Let us make the tree with its fruit a ruin,

And let us cut him off from the land of the living,

That his name be remembered no more.”

But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously,

Who tests the insides and the heart,

Let me see Your vengeance on them,

For to You have I revealed my case.

21 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, so that you will not die at our hand”; 22 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Behold, I am about to punish them! The choice men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine; 23 and a remnant will not be left to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth—the year of their punishment.”