1The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah , saying , 2Stand in the gate of Jehovah ’s house , and proclaim there this word , and say , Hear the word of Jehovah , all ye of Judah , that enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah . 3Thus saith Jehovah of hosts , the God of Israel , Amend your ways and your doings , and I will cause you to dwell in this place . 4Trust ye not in lying words , saying , The temple of Jehovah , the temple of Jehovah , the temple of Jehovah , are these . 5For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings ; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor ; 6if ye oppress not the sojourner , the fatherless , and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place , neither walk after other gods to your own hurt : 7then will I cause you to dwell in this place , in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for evermore . 8Behold , ye trust in lying words , that cannot profit . 9Will ye steal , murder , and commit adultery , and swear falsely , and burn incense unto Baal , and walk after other gods that ye have not known , 10and come and stand before me in this house , which is called by my name , and say, We are delivered ; that ye may do all these abominations ? 11Is this house , which is called by my name , become a den of robbers in your eyes ? Behold , I , even I , have seen it , saith Jehovah . 12But go ye now unto 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 . 13And now , because ye have done all these works , saith Jehovah , and I spake unto you , rising up early and speaking , but ye heard not ; and I called you , but ye answered not : 14therefore will I do unto the house which is called by my name , wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh . 15And I will cast you out of my sight , as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
The Consequences of Idolatry
16Therefore pray not thou for this people , neither lift up cry nor prayer for them , neither make intercession to me ; for I will not hear thee . 17Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? 18The children gather wood , and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough , to make cakes to the queen of heaven , and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger . 19Do they provoke me to anger ? saith Jehovah ; do they not provoke themselves , to the confusion of their own faces ? 20Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold , mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place , upon man , and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field , and upon the fruit of the ground ; and it shall burn , and shall not be quenched . 21Thus saith Jehovah of hosts , the God of Israel : Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices , and eat ye flesh . 22For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt , concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices : 23but this thing I commanded them , saying , Hearken unto my voice , and I will be your God , and ye shall be my people ; and walk ye in all the way that I command you , that it may be well with you . 24But they hearkened not , nor inclined their ear , but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart , and went backward, and not forward . 25Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day , I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets , daily rising up early and sending them : 26yet they hearkened not unto me , nor inclined their ear , but made their neck stiff : they did worse than their fathers. 27And thou shalt speak all these words unto them ; but they will not hearken to thee : thou shalt also call unto them ; but they will not answer thee .
The Call for Genuine Worship
28And thou shalt say unto them , This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God , nor received instruction : truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth . 29Cut off thy hair , O Jerusalem , and cast it away , and take up a lamentation on the bare heights ; for Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath . 30For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight , saith Jehovah : they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name , to defile it . 31And 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 commanded not , neither came it into my mind . 32Therefore , behold , the days come , saith Jehovah , that it shall no more be called Topheth , nor The valley of the son of Hinnom , but The valley of Slaughter : for they shall bury in Topheth , till there be no place to bury . 33And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens , and for the beasts of the earth ; and none shall frighten them away . 34Then will I 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 shall become a waste .