Jeremiah, 7

1. The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

1. The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

2. Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD, and there proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD!

2. 'Stand at the gate of the Temple of Yahweh and there proclaim this message. Say, "Listen to the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah who come in by these gates to worship Yahweh.

3. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place.

3. Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Amend your behaviour and your actions and I will let you stay in this place.

4. Put not your trust in the deceitful words: "This is the temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"

4. Do not put your faith in delusive words, such as: This is Yahweh's sanctuary, Yahweh's sanctuary, Yahweh's sanctuary!

5. Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;

5. But if you really amend your behaviour and your actions, if you really treat one another fairly,

6. if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm,

6. if you do not exploit the stranger, the orphan and the widow, if you do not shed innocent blood in this place and if you do not follow other gods, to your own ruin,

7. will I remain with you in this place, in the land which I gave your fathers long ago and forever.

7. then I shall let you stay in this place, in the country I gave for ever to your ancestors of old.

8. But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!

8. Look, you are putting your faith in delusive, worthless words!

9. Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not,

9. Steal, would you, murder, commit adultery, perjure yourselves, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods of whom you know nothing? -

10. and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: "We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"?

10. and then come and stand before me in this Temple that bears my name, saying: Now we are safe to go on doing all these loathsome things!

11. Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I too see what is being done, says the LORD.

11. Do you look on this Temple that bears my name as a den of bandits? I, at any rate, can see straight, Yahweh declares.

12. You may go to Shiloh, which I made the dwelling place of my name in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

12. "Now go to the place which used to be mine at Shiloh, where I once gave my name a home; see what I have done to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel!

13. And now, because you have committed all these misdeeds, says the LORD, because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly; because you did not answer, though I called you,

13. And now, since you have done all these things, Yahweh declares, and refused to listen when I spoke so urgently, so persistently, or to answer when I called you,

14. I will do to this house named after me, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, just as I did to Shiloh.

14. I shall treat this Temple that bears my name, and in which you put your heart, the place that I gave you and your ancestors, just as I treated Shiloh,

15. I will cast you away from me, as I cast away all your brethren, all the offspring of Ephraim.

15. and I shall drive you out of my sight, as I did all your kinsfolk, the whole race of Ephraim."

16. You, now, do not intercede for this people; raise not in their behalf a pleading prayer! Do not urge me, for I will not listen to you.

16. 'You, for your part, must not intercede for this people, nor raise either plea or prayer on their behalf; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

17. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem?

17. Can you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18. The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, while libations are poured out to strange gods in order to hurt me.

18. The children collect the wood, the fathers light the fire, the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; and, to spite me, they pour libations to alien gods.

19. Is it I whom they hurt, says the LORD; is it not rather themselves, to their own confusion?

19. Is it really me they spite, Yahweh demands, is it not in fact themselves, to their own confusion?

20. See now, says the Lord GOD, my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn without being quenched.

20. So, Lord Yahweh says this, "My anger, my wrath will be poured down on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the countryside and the fruits of the soil; it will burn, and not be quenched."

21. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your holocausts upon your sacrifices; eat up the flesh!

21. 'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat all the meat.

22. In speaking to your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command concerning holocaust or sacrifice.

22. For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I said nothing to them, gave them no orders, about burnt offerings or sacrifices.

23. This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.

23. My one command to them was this: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. In everything, follow the way that I mark out for you, and you shall prosper.

24. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

24. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed their own devices, their own stubborn and wicked inclinations, and got worse rather than better.

25. From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.

25. From the day your ancestors left Egypt until today, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, persistently sending them day after day.

26. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.

26. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have deliberately resisted, behaving worse than their ancestors.

27. When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you.

27. So you will tell them all this, but they will not listen to you; you will call them, but they will not answer you."

28. Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.

28. Then you are to say to them, "This is the nation that will neither listen to the voice of Yahweh its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.

29. Cut off your dedicated hair and throw it away! on the heights intone an elegy; For the LORD has rejected and cast off the generation that draws down his wrath.

29. "Cut off your tresses, throw them away! On the bare heights raise a dirge, for Yahweh has rejected, has abandoned, a brood that enrages him!"

30. The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the LORD. They have defiled the house which bears my name by setting up in it their abominable idols.

30. 'Yes, the people of Judah have done what displeases me, Yahweh declares. They have set up their Horrors in the Temple that bears my name, to defile it,

31. In the Valley of Ben-hinnom they have built the high place of Topheth to immolate in fire their sons and their daughters, such a thing as I never commanded or had in mind.

31. and have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters: a thing I never ordered, that had never entered my thoughts.

32. Therefore, beware! days will come, says the LORD, when Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom will no longer be called such, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. For lack of space, Topheth will be a burial place.

32. So now the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer say Topheth or Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a burial ground, for lack of other space;

33. The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the field, which no one will drive away.

33. the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of earth, and there will be no one to drive them off.

34. In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem I will silence the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will be turned to rubble.

34. I shall silence the shouts of rejoicing and mirth and the voices of bridegroom and bride, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to desert.'