Evil in the Land
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
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1"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.
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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 2Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
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3Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'
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"For if you truly 4amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly 5execute justice one with another,
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if you 6do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, 7or shed innocent blood in this place, 8and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,
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9then I will let you dwell in this place, 10in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
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"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
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11Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, 12swear falsely, 13make offerings to Baal, 14and go after other gods that you have not known,
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and then come and stand before me in this house, 15which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations?
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16Has this house, 17which is called by my name, 18become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.
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Go now to 19my place that was in Shiloh, 20where I made my name dwell at first, and 21see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.
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And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and 22when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and 23when I called you, you did not answer,
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therefore I will do to 24the house 25that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, 26as I did to Shiloh.
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27And I will cast you out of my sight, 28as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of 29Ephraim.
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"As for you, 30do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.
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Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, 31and the women knead dough, to 32make cakes for 33the queen of heaven. And 34they pour out drink offerings to other gods, 35to provoke me to anger.
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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: behold, 38my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; 39it will burn and not be quenched."
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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 40"Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.
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For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them 41concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
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But this command I gave them: 42'Obey my voice, and 43I will be your God, and you shall be my people. 44And walk in all the way that I command you, 45that it may be well with you.'
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46But they did not obey or incline their ear, 47but walked in their own counsels and 48the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and 49went backward and not forward.
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From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, 50I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.
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51Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, 52but stiffened their neck. 53They did worse than their fathers.
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54"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. 55You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
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And you shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; 56truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
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57"'Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on 58the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'
The Valley of Slaughter
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"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have set 59their detestable things in the house 60that is called by my name, to 61defile it.
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And they have built the high places of 62Topheth, which is in 63the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, 64to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, 65which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
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66Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no more be called 67Topheth, or 68the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; 69for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)