Jer 7, Jer 48 | ESV | STEP | The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ^a“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: ^bAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 ^cDo 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 ^damend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^eexecute justice one with another, 6 if you ^fdo not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^gor shed innocent blood in this place, ^hand if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 ⁱthen I will let you dwell in this place, ^jin the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 ^kWill you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^lswear falsely, ^mmake offerings to Baal, ⁿand go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, ^owhich is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 ^pHas this house, ^qwhich is called by my name, ^rbecome a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to ^smy place that was in Shiloh, ^twhere I made my name dwell at first, and ^usee 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 ^vwhen I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and ^wwhen I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to ^xthe house ^ythat is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, ^zas I did to Shiloh. 15 ^aaAnd I will cast you out of my sight, ^abas I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of ^acEphraim.

16 “As for you, ^addo 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, ^aeand the women knead dough, to ^afmake cakes for ^agthe queen of heaven. And ^ahthey pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^aito provoke me to anger. 19 ^ajIs it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^akto their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^almy 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; ^amit will burn and not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^an“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 ^aoconcerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ^ap‘Obey my voice, and ^aqI will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^arAnd walk in all the way that I command you, ^asthat it may be well with you.’ 24 ^atBut they did not obey or incline their ear, ^aubut walked in their own counsels and ^avthe stubbornness of their evil hearts, and ^awwent backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, ^axI have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 ^ayYet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, ^azbut stiffened their neck. ^baThey did worse than their fathers.

27 ^bb“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. ^bcYou 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; ^bdtruth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

29 ^be“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on ^bfthe 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 ^bgtheir detestable things in the house ^bhthat is called by my name, to ^bidefile it. 31 And they have built the high places of ^bjTopheth, which is in ^bkthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^blto burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^bmwhich I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 ^bnTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called ^boTopheth, or ^bpthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^bqfor they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 ^brAnd the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, ^bsand none will frighten them away. 34 ^btAnd 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, ^bufor the land shall become a waste.

Jeremiah 48

Judgment on Moab

1 ^bvConcerning Moab.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Woe to ^bwNebo, for it is laid waste!
^bxKiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame ^byand broken down;
2 the renown of Moab is no more.
In ^bzHeshbon they planned disaster against her:
‘Come, let us cut her off ^cafrom being a nation!’
You also, O ^cbMadmen, shall be brought to silence;
the sword shall pursue you.
3 “A voice! A cry from ^ccHoronaim,
‘Desolation and great destruction!’
4 Moab is destroyed;
her little ones have made a cry.
5 ^cdFor at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping; ^{▼▼Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping}
for ^cfat the descent of Horonaim
they have heard the distressed cry ^{▼▼Septuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry} of destruction.
6 Flee! Save yourselves!
You will be like ^cha juniper in the desert!
7 For, ^cibecause you trusted in your works and your treasures,
you also shall be taken;
and ^cjChemosh ^ckshall go into exile
with ^clhis priests and his officials.
8 ^cmThe destroyer shall come upon every city,
and no city shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
and ^cnthe plain shall be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.
9 “Give wings to Moab,
for she would fly away;
her cities shall become a desolation,
with no inhabitant in them.
10 ^co“Cursed is he who does ^cpthe work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth
and has ^cqsettled on his dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into exile;
so his taste remains in him,
and his scent is not changed.
12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his ^{▼▼Septuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their} jars in pieces. 13 Then ^csMoab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as ^ctthe house of Israel was ashamed of ^cuBethel, their confidence.

14 “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
and mighty men of war’?
15 The destroyer of ^cvMoab and his cities has come up,
and the choicest of his young men have ^cwgone down to slaughter,
declares ^cxthe King, ^cywhose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
and his affliction hastens swiftly.
17 ^czGrieve for him, all you who are around him,
and all who know his name;
say, ^da‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff.’
18 ^db“Come down from your glory,
and sit on the parched ground,
O inhabitant of ^dcDibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 ^ddStand by the way ^deand watch,
O inhabitant of ^dfAroer!
Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
say, ‘What has happened?’
20 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
^dgwail and cry!
Tell it beside ^dhthe Arnon,
that ^diMoab is laid waste.
21 “Judgment has come upon ^djthe tableland, upon Holon, and ^dkJahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and ^dlDibon, and ^dmNebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and ^dnKiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and ^doBeth-meon, 24 and ^dpKerioth, and ^dqBozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 ^drThe horn of Moab is cut off, and ^dshis arm is broken, declares the Lord.

26 ^dt“Make him drunk, ^dubecause he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall ^dvwallow in his vomit, ^dwand he too shall be held in derision. 27 ^dxWas not Israel a derision to you? ^dyWas he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him ^dzyou wagged your head?

28 ^ea“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
O inhabitants of Moab!
Be ^eblike the dove that nests
in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
29 ^ecWe have heard of the pride of Moab—
he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his insolence, declares the Lord;
^edhis boasts are false,
his deeds are false.
31 ^eeTherefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the men of ^efKir-hareseth I mourn.
32 More than for ^egJazer I weep for you,
^ehO vine of ^eiSibmah!
^ejYour branches passed over the sea,
reached to the Sea of ^ekJazer;
on your summer fruits and your grapes
the destroyer has fallen.
33 ^elGladness and joy have been taken away
from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
the shouting is not the shout of joy.
34 ^em“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to ^enHoronaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. 35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in ^eothe high place and makes offerings to his god. 36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of ^epKir-hareseth. ^eqTherefore the riches they gained have perished.

37 ^er“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. ^esOn all the hands are gashes, and ^etaround the waist is sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like ^eua vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord. 39 How it is broken! How they wail! ^evHow Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab ^ewhas become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

40 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^exone shall fly swiftly like an eagle
^eyand spread his wings against Moab;
41 ^ezthe cities shall be taken
and the strongholds seized.
^faThe heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
like the heart of ^fba woman in her birth pains;
42 Moab shall be ^fcdestroyed and be no longer a people,
because ^fdhe magnified himself against the Lord.
43 ^feTerror, pit, and snare
are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

declares the Lord.
44 He who flees from the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
^ffFor I will bring these things upon Moab,
the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
fugitives stop without strength,
for fire came out from Heshbon,
flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed ^fgthe forehead of Moab,
the crown of ^fhthe sons of tumult.
46 ^fiWoe to you, O Moab!
The people of ^fjChemosh are undone,
for your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters into captivity.
47 ^fkYet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days, declares the Lord.”
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.