Jer 7, Jer 9 | 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 9

1 ^{▼▼Ch 8:23 in Hebrew} ^bwOh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of ^bxthe daughter of my people!
2 ^{▼▼Ch 9:1 in Hebrew} Oh that I had in the desert
a travelers’ lodging place,
that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all ^bzadulterers,
a company of ^catreacherous men.
3 ^cbThey bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong} in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
^cdand they do not know me, declares the Lord.
4 ^ceLet everyone beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^cfbrother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor ^cggoes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
^chthey refuse to know me, declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^ciI will refine them and ^cjtest them,
for what else can I do, ^ckbecause of my people?
8 ^clTheir tongue is a deadly arrow;
^cmit speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^cneach speaks peace to his neighbor,
but in his heart ^cohe plans an ambush for him.
9 ^cpShall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 “I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
and a lamentation for ^cqthe pastures of the wilderness,
^crbecause they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^csboth the birds of the air and the beasts
have fled and are gone.
11 ^ctI will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
^cua lair of jackals,
^cvand I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.”
12 ^cwWho is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined ^cxand laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13 And the Lord says: ^cy“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, 14 but ^czhave stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^daBehold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^dbpoisonous water to drink. 16 ^dcI will scatter them among the nations ^ddwhom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will ^desend the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

17 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^df“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
send for the skillful women to come;
18 let them make haste ^dgand raise a wailing over us,
^dhthat our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids flow with water.
19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
^di‘How we are ruined!
We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
and each to her neighbor a dirge.
21 For death has come up into our windows;
it has entered our palaces,
^djcutting off the children from the streets
and the young men from the squares.
22 Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^dk‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
like dung upon the open field,
^dllike sheaves after the reaper,
and none shall gather them.’”
23 Thus says the Lord: ^dm“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but ^dnlet him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. ^doFor in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^dpI will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— 26 ^dqEgypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^drall who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^dsuncircumcised in heart.”