Jer 7 | NASB2020 | STEP | The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord , saying ,

Jeremiah 7

Message at the Temple Gate

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “ ^aStand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” 3 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “ ^bAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. 4 ^cDo not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘ ^{▼▼Lit They are}This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 For ^eif you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^fpractice justice between a person and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the ^{▼▼Or fatherless
,} ^horphan, or the widow, and do not shed ⁱinnocent blood in this place, nor ^jfollow other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you ^klive in this place, in the ^lland that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8 “Behold, you are trusting in ^mdeceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, ^{▼▼Or burn incense
,} ^ooffer sacrifices to Baal, and follow ^pother gods that you have not known, 10 then ^qcome and stand before Me in ^rthis house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’ --so that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has ^sthis house, which is called by My name, become a ^tden of robbers in your sight? Behold, ^uI Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.

12 “But go now to My place which was in ^vShiloh, where I ^wmade My name dwell at the beginning, and ^xsee what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^yspeaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I ^zcalled you but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the ^aahouse which is called by My name, ^abin which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^acdid to Shiloh. 15 I will ^adhurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants of ^afEphraim.

16 “As for you, ^agdo not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The ^{▼▼Lit sons}children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^aipour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^ajprovoke Me to anger. 19 ^akAre they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^{▼▼Lit their faces’}own ^amshame?” 20 Therefore this is what the Lord ^{▼▼Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord}God says: “Behold, My ^aoanger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^aptrees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

21 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^aqburnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^areat flesh. 22 For I did not ^asspeak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is ^{▼▼Lit the word}what I commanded them, saying, ‘ ^auObey My voice, and ^avI will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^{▼▼Lit in all the way}entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^axgo well for you.’ 24 Yet they ^aydid not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^{▼▼Lit were
,} ^bawent backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^bbsent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^bcstiffened their neck; they ^bddid more evil than their fathers.

27 “So you shall ^bespeak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^bfnot answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^bgdid not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^{▼▼Or faithfulness
,} ^bitrustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

29 ‘ ^bjCut off ^{▼▼Lit your crown}your hair and throw it away,
And ^bltake up a song of mourning on the bare heights;
For the Lord has ^bmrejected and forsaken
The generation of His wrath.’
30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have ^bnput their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 31 They have ^bobuilt the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to ^bpburn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I ^bqdid not command, and it did not come into My ^{▼▼Lit heart}mind.

32 “ ^bsTherefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will ^btbury in Topheth ^{▼▼Or until there is no place left}because there is no other place. 33 The ^bvdead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will ^bweliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the ^bxland will become a site of ruins.