Jer 4, Jer 7 | ESV | STEP | If you return , O Israel , declares the Lord , to me you should return . If you remove your detestable things from my presence , and do not waver ,

1 “If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,
^ato me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
^band do not waver,
2 ^cand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then ^dnations shall bless themselves in him,
^eand in him shall they glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^f“Break up your fallow ground,
and ^gsow not among thorns.
4 ^hCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
ⁱlest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
^jbecause of the evil of your deeds.”

Disaster from the North

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

^k“Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
^l‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
6 ^mRaise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from ⁿthe north,
^oand great destruction.
7 ^pA lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
^qwithout inhabitant.
8 For this ^rput on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for ^sthe fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9 “In that day, declares the Lord, ^tcourage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, ^usurely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from ^vthe bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who ^wspeak in judgment upon them.”

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
^xhis chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are ^yswifter than eagles—
woe to us, ^zfor we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, ^aawash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
15 For a voice ^abdeclares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from ^acMount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come ^adfrom a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field ^aeare they against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me,

declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and ^afit is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”

Anguish over Judah’s Desolation

19 ^agMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20 ^ahCrash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
^aiSuddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For ^ajmy people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
^akThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^alwithout form and void;
^amand to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on ^anthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 ^aoI looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the ^apfruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before ^aqhis fierce anger.
27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; ^aryet I will not make a full end.

28 ^as“For this the earth shall mourn,
^atand the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
^auI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and ^avno man dwells in them.
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
^awthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
^axthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
^ayYour lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31 For I heard ^aza cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
^bastretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Jeremiah 7

Evil in the Land

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ^bb“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 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^bcAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 ^bdDo not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 “For if you truly ^beamend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^bfexecute justice one with another, 6 if you ^bgdo not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^bhor shed innocent blood in this place, ^biand if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 ^bjthen I will let you dwell in this place, ^bkin the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 ^blWill you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^bmswear falsely, ^bnmake offerings to Baal, ^boand go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, ^bpwhich is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 ^bqHas this house, ^brwhich is called by my name, ^bsbecome a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to ^btmy place that was in Shiloh, ^buwhere I made my name dwell at first, and ^bvsee what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and ^bwwhen I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and ^bxwhen I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to ^bythe house ^bzthat is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, ^caas I did to Shiloh. 15 ^cbAnd I will cast you out of my sight, ^ccas I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of ^cdEphraim.

16 “As for you, ^cedo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^cfand the women knead dough, to ^cgmake cakes for ^chthe queen of heaven. And ^cithey pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^cjto provoke me to anger. 19 ^ckIs it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^clto their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^cmmy 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; ^cnit will burn and not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^co“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 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 ^cpconcerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ^cq‘Obey my voice, and ^crI will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^csAnd walk in all the way that I command you, ^ctthat it may be well with you.’ 24 ^cuBut they did not obey or incline their ear, ^cvbut walked in their own counsels and ^cwthe stubbornness of their evil hearts, and ^cxwent backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, ^cyI have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 ^czYet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, ^dabut stiffened their neck. ^dbThey did worse than their fathers.

27 ^dc“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. ^ddYou shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 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; ^detruth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

29 ^df“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on ^dgthe bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’

The Valley of Slaughter

30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set ^dhtheir detestable things in the house ^dithat is called by my name, to ^djdefile it. 31 And they have built the high places of ^dkTopheth, which is in ^dlthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^dmto burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^dnwhich I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 ^doTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called ^dpTopheth, or ^dqthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^drfor they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 ^dsAnd the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, ^dtand none will frighten them away. 34 ^duAnd I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^dvfor the land shall become a waste.