Trusting in Lying Words
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Jer. 17:19; 26:2"Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all youof Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ " 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jer. 4:1; 18:11; 26:13"Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Jer. 7:8; Mic. 3:11Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lordare these.’
5 "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly 1 Kin. 6:12; Jer. 21:12; 22:3execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, Deut. 6:14, 15; Jer. 13:10or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 Deut. 4:40then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in Jer. 3:18the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 "Behold, you trust in Jer. 5:31; 14:13, 14lying words that cannot profit. 9 1 Kin. 18:21; Hos. 4:1, 2; Zeph. 1:5Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and Ex. 20:3; Jer. 7:6; 19:4walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 Ezek. 23:39and then come and stand before Me in this house Jer. 7:11, 14; 32:34; 34:15which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has Is. 56:7this house, which is called by My name, become a Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the Lord.
12 "But go now to Josh. 18:1; Judg. 18:31My place which was in Shiloh, Deut. 12:11where I set My name at the first, and see 1 Sam. 4:10; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works," says the Lord, "and I spoke to you, 2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 11:7rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I Prov. 1:24; Is. 65:12; 66:4called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to 1 Sam. 4:10, 11; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 26:6, 9Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of My sight, 2 Kin. 17:23as I have cast out all your brethren—Ps. 78:67; Hos. 7:13; 9:13; 12:1the whole posterity of Ephraim.
16 "Therefore Ex. 32:10; Deut. 9:14; Jer. 11:14do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; Jer. 15:1for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 Jer. 44:17The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and theyJer. 19:13pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19 Deut. 32:16, 21Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the Lord. "Dothey not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?"
20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: "Behold, My anger and My fury 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. And it will burn and not be quenched."
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Is. 1:11; Jer. 6:20; Hos. 8:13; Amos 5:21, 22"Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16; (Hos. 6:6)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 or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, Ex. 15:26; 16:32; Deut. 6:3‘Obey My voice, and (Ex. 19:5, 6); Lev. 26:12; (Jer. 11:4; 13:11)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 Ps. 81:11; Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but Deut. 29:19; Jer. 9:14followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and Jer. 32:33went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even 2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 25:4; 29:19; Mark 12:1–10; Luke 11:47–49sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.26 Jer. 11:8Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but Neh. 9:17stiffened their neck. Jer. 16:12; Matt. 23:32They did worse than their fathers.
27 "Therefore Jer. 1:7; 26:2; 37:14, 15; 43:1–4; Ezek. 2:7you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Judgment on Obscene Religion
28 "So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God Jer. 5:3nor receive correction. Jer. 9:3Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29 Job 1:20; Is. 15:2; Jer. 48:37; Mic. 1:16Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the Lord. 2 Kin. 21:4; 2 Chr. 33:3–5, 7; Jer. 32:34, 35; Ezek. 7:20; Dan. 9:27; 11:31"They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31 And they have built the 2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:5; 32:35high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to Lev. 18:21; 2 Kin. 17:17; Ps. 106:38burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, Deut. 17:3which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 "Therefore behold, Jer. 19:6the days are coming," says the Lord, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; 2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:11for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33 The Jer. 9:22; 19:11; Ezek. 6:5corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten themaway.34 Then I will cause to Is. 24:7, 8; Jer. 16:9; 25:10; Ezek. 26:13; Hos. 2:11; Rev. 18:23cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For Lev. 26:33; Is. 1:7; Jer. 4:27the land shall be desolate.