Jeremiah Chapter 7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim this word there, and say, 'Hear the LORD's word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.' "
3 The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Don't trust in lying words, saying, 'The LORD's temple, the LORD's temple, the LORD's temple, are these.'
5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour;
6 if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, and don't walk after other gods to your own hurt;
7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more.
8 Behold, you trust in lying words that can't profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
10 then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered,' that you may do all these abominations?
11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it," says the LORD.
12 "But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 Now, because you have done all these works," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn't hear; and I called you, but you didn't answer;
14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim.
16 "Therefore don't pray for this people. Don't lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
17 Don't you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger?" says the LORD. "Don't they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?"
20 Therefore the Lord GOD says: "Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched."
21 the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.
22 For I didn't 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 thing I commanded them, saying, 'Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'
24 But they didn't listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
26 Yet they didn't listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.
27 "You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
28 You shall tell them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the LORD their God's voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.'
29 Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30 "For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
31 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; which I didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.
32 Therefore behold, the days come", says the LORD, "that it will no more be called 'Topheth' or 'The valley of the son of Hinnom', but 'The valley of Slaughter'; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.
33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away.
34 Then I will cause to cease 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 the land will become a waste."
Footnotes
- Verse 15 (offspring)
- or, seed
Version: World English Bible
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Jeremiah Chapter 7 Guide
With this section the second movement in commissioning the prophet commences. It deals first with the sins of worship. These are first denounced. At the gate of the Temple the prophet rebuked the people for putting their trust in external things, and told them that their true safety lay in amending their ways. He charged them with committing all manner of sin, and yet standing before God in His house, imagining that by this external act they would be delivered and set free to continue in abomination. He bade them take lesson from the history of Shiloh, and from what Jehovah had done with Israel.
So terrible was the condition that the prophet was charged at last not to pray for the people. Their sin was heinous and persistent, therefore all their sacrifices and offerings were refused. For this idolatry of formalism the sentence of judgment was again pronounced. They had defiled the Temple and built Topheth as a place of worship. This Topheth was to become "the valley of Slaughter," and all mirth was to end.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Jeremiah Chapter 7 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Confidence in the temple is vain. -- (1-16)
- The provocation by persisting in idolatry. -- (17-20)
- God justifies his dealings with them. -- (21-28)
- And threatens vengeance. -- (29-34)
Verses 1-16
No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow themselves in the practice of known sin, or live in the neglect of known duty. They thought that the temple they profaned would be their protection. But all who continue in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, make Christ the minister of sin; and the cross of Christ, rightly understood, forms the most effectual remedy to such poisonous sentiments. The Son of God gave himself for our transgressions, to show the excellence of the Divine law, and the evil of sin. Never let us think we may do wickedness without suffering for it.
Verses 17-20
The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is malice against God, but it will hurt themselves. And they shall find there is no escaping. God's wrath is fire unquenchable.
Verses 21-28
God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ lessens our obligation to obey.
Verses 29-34
In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it the place of their sin. Evil pursues sinners, even after death. Those who will not, by the grace of God, be cured of vain mirth, shall, by the justice of God, be deprived of all mirth. How many ruin their health and property without complaining, when engaged in Satan's service! May we learn to relish holy joys, and to sit loose to all others though lawful.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.