Jeremiah’s Message at the Temple Gate

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

²“Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.

³Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.

⁴Do not trust in deceptive words, saying:‘This is the temple of the LORD,the temple of the LORD,the temple of the LORD.’

⁵For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another,

⁶if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁷then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail.

⁹Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,

¹⁰and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’?

¹¹Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbersin your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

¹²But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

¹³And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and againbut you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,

¹⁴therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers.

¹⁵And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

Judah’s Idolatry Persists

¹⁶As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

¹⁹But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?

²⁰Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.

²¹This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

²²For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

²³but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

²⁴Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

²⁵From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.

²⁶Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer.

²⁸Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.

²⁹Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.

³²So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

³³The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.

³⁴I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”

The Blessings of Obedience

¹“Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

²And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God:

³You will be blessed in the cityand blessed in the country.

⁴The fruit of your womb will be blessed,as well as the produce of your landand the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herdsand the lambs of your flocks.

⁵Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.

⁶You will be blessed when you come inand blessed when you go out.

⁷The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven.

⁸The LORD will decree a blessing on your barns and on everything to which you put your hand; the LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.

⁹The LORD will establish you as His holy people, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.

¹⁰Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.

¹¹The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

¹²The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

¹³The LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am giving you today.

¹⁴Do not turn aside to the right or to the left from any of the words I command you today, and do not go after other gods to serve them.

The Curses of Disobedience

¹⁵If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶You will be cursed in the cityand cursed in the country.

¹⁷Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.

¹⁸The fruit of your womb will be cursed,as well as the produce of your land,the calves of your herds,and the lambs of your flocks.

¹⁹You will be cursed when you come inand cursed when you go out.

²⁰The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him.

²¹The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess.

²²The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.

²³The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.

²⁴The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

²⁵The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

²⁶Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.

²⁷The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.

²⁸The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,

²⁹and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.

³⁰You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.

³¹Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

³²Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.

³³A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.

³⁴You will be driven mad by the sights you see.

³⁵The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.

³⁷You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

³⁸You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.

³⁹You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

⁴⁰You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.

⁴¹You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.

⁴²Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

⁴³The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower.

⁴⁴He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you.

⁴⁶These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever.

⁴⁷Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,

⁴⁸you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁴⁹The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

⁵⁰a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young.

⁵¹They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵²They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.

⁵³Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.

⁵⁴The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces,and the rest of his children who have survived,

⁵⁵refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates.

⁵⁶The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embracesand her son and daughter

⁵⁷the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates.

⁵⁸If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God—

⁵⁹He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.

⁶⁰He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you.

⁶¹The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.

⁶²You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

⁶³Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

⁶⁵Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

⁶⁶So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival.

⁶⁷In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see.

⁶⁸The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

The Broken Covenant

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

³You must tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

⁴which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’

⁵This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.”“Amen, LORD,” I answered.

⁶Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out.

⁷For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again,saying, ‘Obey My voice.’

⁸Yet they would not obey or incline their ears, but each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant I had commanded them to follow but they did not keep.”

⁹And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their fathers.

¹¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.

¹²Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

¹³Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me in their time of disaster.

¹⁵What right has My beloved in My house,having carried out so many evil schemes?Can consecrated meat avert your doom?When you are wicked, then you rejoice.

¹⁶The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree,beautiful with well-formed fruit.But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire,and its branches will be consumed.

¹⁷The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

A Plot against Jeremiah

¹⁸And the LORD informed me, so I knew.Then You showed me their deeds.

¹⁹For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;I did not know that they had plotted against me:“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;let us cut him off from the land of the living,that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously,who examines the heartand mind,let me see Your vengeance upon them,for to You I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.”

²²So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.

²³There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

A Prayer for Deliverance

¹The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance;they have defiled Your holy templeand reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

²They have given the corpses of Your servantsas food to the birds of the air,the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

³They have poured out their blood like waterall around Jerusalem,and there is no one to bury the dead.

⁴We have become a reproach to our neighbors,a scorn and derision to those around us.

⁵How long, O LORD?Will You be angry forever?Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶Pour out Your wrath on the nationsthat do not acknowledge You,on the kingdomsthat refuse to call on Your name,

⁷for they have devoured Jacoband devastated his homeland.

⁸Do not hold past sins against us;let Your compassion come quickly,for we are brought low.

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation,for the glory of Your name;deliver us and atone for our sins,for the sake of Your name.

¹⁰Why should the nations ask,“Where is their God?”Before our eyes, make known among the nationsYour vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

¹¹May the groans of the captives reach You;by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.

¹²Pay back into the laps of our neighborssevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.

¹³Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,will thank You forever;from generation to generationwe will declare Your praise.