CHAPTER 7
“Stand
in the gate
of the house
of the LORD
and proclaim
this
message:
‘Hear
the word
of the LORD,
all
you people of Judah
who enter
through these
gates
to worship
the LORD.
Thus
says
the LORD
of Hosts,
the God
of Israel:
Correct
your ways
and your deeds,
and I will allow you to live
in this
place.
Do not
trust
in deceptive
words,
chanting,
“This
is the temple
of the LORD,
the temple
of the LORD,
the temple
of the LORD.”
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
to your own harm,
Will you steal
and murder,
commit adultery
and perjury,
burn incense
to Baal,
and follow
other
gods
that
you have not
known,
and then come
and stand
before Me
in this
house,
which bears
My name,
and say,
“We are delivered,
so
we can continue with
all
these
abominations”?
Has this
house,
which
bears
My name,
become
a den
of robbers
in your sight?
Yes,
I
too
have seen it,
declares
the LORD.
But
go
now
to
the place
in Shiloh
where
I first
made a dwelling
for My name,
and see
what
I did
to it
because of
the wickedness
of My people
Israel.
And now,
because
you have done
all
these
things,
declares
the LORD,
and because I have spoken
to
you time and time again
but you would not
listen,
and I have called
to you
but you would not
answer,
therefore what I did
to Shiloh
I will now do
to the house
that
bears
My name,
the house in which
you
trust,
the place
that
I gave
to you
and your fathers.
And I will cast you
out of
My presence,
just as
I have cast out
all
your brothers,
all
the descendants
of Ephraim.’
As for you,
do not
pray
for
these
people.
Do not
offer
a plea
or petition
on their behalf,
and do not
beg Me,
for
I will not
listen
to you.
The sons
gather
wood,
the fathers
light
the fire,
and the women
knead
the dough
to make
cakes
for the Queen
of Heaven;
they pour out
drink offerings
to other
gods
to
provoke Me to anger.
But am I the one
they are provoking?
declares
the LORD.
Is it not
themselves
they spite,
to their own shame?
Therefore,
this is what
the Lord
GOD
says:
Behold,
My anger,
My fury,
will
be poured out on
this
place,
on
man
and beast,
on
the trees
of the field
and
the produce
of the land,
and it will burn
and not
be extinguished.
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!
For
when
I brought
your fathers
out of the land
of Egypt,
I did not merely
command them
about
burnt offerings
and sacrifices,
but
this is what
I commanded them:
Obey Me,
and I will be
your God,
and you
will be
My people.
You must walk
in all
the ways
I have commanded
you,
so that
it may go well with you.
Yet they did not
listen
or pay attention,
but they followed
the stubborn
inclinations
of their own evil
hearts.
They went
backward
and not forward.
From
the day
your fathers
came out
of the land
of Egypt
until
this
day,
I have sent
you
all
My servants
the prophets
time and time again.
Yet they would not
listen
to Me
or
incline
their ear,
but they stiffened
their necks
and did more evil
than their fathers.’
When you tell
them
all
these
things,
they will not
listen
to you.
When you call
to them,
they will not
answer.
Therefore you must say
to them:
This
is the nation
that
would not
listen
to the voice
of the LORD
their God
and would not
receive
correction.
Truth
has perished;
it has disappeared
from their lips.
Cut off
your hair
and throw it away.
Raise up
a lamentation
on
the barren heights,
for
the LORD
has rejected
and forsaken
the generation
of His wrath.
For
the people
of Judah
have done
evil
in My sight,
declares
the LORD.
They have set up
their abominations
in the house
that
bears
My name,
and so have defiled it.
They have built
the high places
of Topheth
in the Valley of Hinnom
so they could burn
their sons
and daughters
in the fire—
something I did not
command,
nor
did it enter
My mind.
So
beware!
The days
are coming,
declares
the LORD,
when this place will no
longer
be called
Topheth
and the Valley of Hinnom,
but
the Valley
of Slaughter.
For they will bury the dead
in Topheth
until there is no
more room.
The corpses
of this
people
will become
food
for the birds
of the sky
and the beasts
of the earth,
and there will be no one
to scare them away.
I will remove
from the cities
of Judah
and the streets
of Jerusalem
the sounds
of joy
and gladness
and the voices
of the bride
and
bridegroom,
for
the land
will become
a wasteland.”