Jeremiah:7

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* This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah : * »Stand at the gate of Jehovah ’s house and proclaim there this word : ‘Hear the word of Jehovah , all you of Judah who enter by these gates to worship Jehovah ! * »‘Thus says Jehovah of Hosts , the God of Israel : »Amend your ways and your deeds , and I will let you dwell in this place . * »‘»Do not trust in deceptive words . They say : ‘This is the Temple of Jehovah , the Temple of Jehovah , and the Temple of Jehovah . * »‘»For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds , if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor , * if you do not oppress the alien , the orphan , or the widow , and do not shed innocent blood in this place , nor walk after other gods to your own ruin , * then I will let you dwell in this place , in the land I gave to your fathers from generation to generation and for a very long time .« ’« * »You are trusting in deceptive words that are of no value to you . * »Will you steal , murder , commit adultery , swear falsely , offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known ? * »Then come and stand before me in this house . It is called by my name . You say , ‘We are safe to do all these abominations .’ * »Has this house , called by my name , become a den of robbers in your sight ? Behold , I , even I , have seen it ,« declares Jehovah . * »But go to my place in Shiloh , where I made my name dwell from the beginning , and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel . * »For the reason that you did all these things ,« says Jehovah , »I spoke to you . I rose up early and spoke . But you did not hear , and I called you but you did not answer . * »Consider what I will do to the house that is called by my name . It is the house in which you trust . It is the place I gave you and your fathers , as I did to Shiloh . * »I will cast you out of my sight , as I have cast out all your brothers , all the offspring of Ephraim . * »As for you , do not pray for this people . Do not lift up cry or prayer for them , and do not intercede with me for I do not hear you . * »Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? * »The children gather wood , and the fathers kindle the fire . The women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven . They pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite me . * »Do they spite me ?« Asks Jehovah . »Is it not themselves they spite , to their own shame ?« * Therefore the Lord Jehovah says : »My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place , on man and on beast , on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground . It will burn and not be quenched .« * Thus says Jehovah of Hosts , the God of Israel : »Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh . * »For I did not speak to your fathers , or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt , concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices . * »‘I gave them this command : ‘Obey my voice , and I will be your God , and you will be my people . You will walk in all the way that I command you that it may be well with you .’« * »Yet they did not obey or incline their ear . They walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart . They went backward and not forward . * »Since the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day , I have sent you all my servants the prophets , daily rising early and sending them . * »Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear . Instead they stiffened their neck . They did more evil than their fathers . * »You will speak all these words to them . But they will not listen to you . You will call them but they will not answer you . * »You will say to them : ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of Jehovah their God or accept correction . Truth has perished and truth has been removed from their mouth . * ‘Cut off your hair and cast it away . Take up a cry of sorrow and grief on the bare heights . Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath .’ * »The sons of Judah have done what is evil in my sight ,« declares Jehovah . »They placed their detestable things in the house called by my name , to defile it . * »They have built the high places of Topheth , which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom , to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire . I did not command this . I would never think of such a thing . * »Days are coming , says Jehovah , when it will no longer be called Topheth , or the valley of the son of Hinnom , but the valley of the Slaughter . They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place . * »The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth . No one will frighten them away . * »I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness , the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem . The land will become a ruin .«

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