Jeremiah, 7

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

1. The word that came to Jeremiah from 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.

2. "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.

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

3. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place.

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

4. Do not trust in these deceptive words: `This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'

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

5. "For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another,

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,

6. if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,

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

7. then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.

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

8. "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.

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

9. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Ba'al, and go after other gods that you have not known,

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!

10. and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, `We are delivered!' -- only to go on doing all these abominations?

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.

11. Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the LORD.

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!

12. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

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,

13. And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,

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,

14. therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

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

15. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of E'phraim.

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.

16. "As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you.

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

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

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.

18. The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

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

19. Is it I whom they provoke? says the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own confusion?

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."

20. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched."

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

21. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.

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

22. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

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.

23. But this command I gave them, `Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'

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.

24. But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

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.

25. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day;

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

26. yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

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."

27. "So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

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.

28. And you shall say to them, `This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

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!"

29. Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'

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,

30. "For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

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.

31. And they have built the high place 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, nor did it come into my mind.

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;

32. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.

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.

33. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away.

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.'

34. And I will make to cease 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; for the land shall become a waste.