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Jeremiah 7-9
Common English Bible
Jeremiah 7-9
Common English Bible
The Lord’s temple
7 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Stand near the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim there this message: Listen to the Lord’s word, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Improve your conduct and your actions, and I will dwell with you[a] in this place. 4 Don’t trust in lies: “This is the Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple!” 5 No, if you truly reform your ways and your actions; if you treat each other justly; 6 if you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, 7 only then will I dwell with you[b] in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time.
8 And yet you trust in lies that will only hurt you. 9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, 10 and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, “We are safe,” only to keep on doing all these detestable things? 11 Do you regard this temple, which bears my name, as a hiding place for criminals? I can see what’s going on here, declares the Lord. 12 Just go to my sanctuary[c] in Shiloh, where I let my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, because you haven’t listened when I spoke to you again and again or responded when I called you, 14 I will do to this temple that bears my name and on which you rely, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim.
16 As for you, don’t pray for these people, don’t cry out or plead for them, and don’t intercede with me, for I won’t listen to you. 17 Can’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven. And to offend me all the more, they pour out drink offerings to foreign gods. 19 But am I the one they are really offending? declares the Lord. Aren’t they in fact humiliating themselves? 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I’m going to pour out my fierce anger on this place, on humans and beasts, on the trees of the field and the crops of the fertile land. It will burn and not go out.
21 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Add your entirely burned offerings to your sacrifices and eat them yourselves! 22 On the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn’t say a thing—I gave no instructions—about entirely burned offerings or sacrifices. 23 Rather, this is what I required of them: Obey me so that I may become your God and you may become my people. Follow the path I mark out for you so that it may go well with you. 24 But they didn’t listen or pay attention. They followed their willful and evil hearts and went backward rather than forward. 25 From the moment your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets—day after day. 26 But they didn’t listen to me or pay attention; they were stubborn and did more harm than their ancestors. 27 When you tell them all this, they won’t listen to you. When you call to them, they won’t respond. 28 Therefore, say to them: This nation neither obeys the Lord its God nor accepts correction; truth has disappeared; it has vanished from their lips.
29 Cut off your hair and cast it away;
grieve on the well-traveled paths.
The Lord has rejected you
and has cast off a generation that provokes his anger.
30 The people of Judah have done what displeases me, declares the Lord. They have corrupted the temple that bears my name by setting up their disgusting idols. 31 They have built shrines at Topheth in the Ben-hinnom Valley to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, although I never commanded such a thing, nor did it ever cross my mind. 32 So now the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer speak of Topheth or the Ben-hinnom Valley, but the Carnage Valley. They will bury in Topheth until no space is left. 33 The corpses of this people will be food for birds and wild animals, with no one to drive them off. 34 I will silence the sound of joy and delight as well as the voice of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to a wasteland.
8 At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah and its officers, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be taken from their graves 2 and exposed to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly forces, which they have loved and served and which they have followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones won’t be gathered for reburial but will become like refuse lying on the ground. 3 The survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, wherever I have scattered them, declares the Lord of heavenly forces.
Depth of Judah’s wrongdoing
4 Say to them, The Lord proclaims:
When people fall down, don’t they get up?
When they turn aside, don’t they turn back?
5 Why then does this people, rebellious Jerusalem,
persistently turn away from me?
They cling to deceit
and refuse to return.
6 I have listened carefully
but haven’t heard a word of truth from them.
No one regrets their wrongdoing;
no one says, “What have I done?”
Everyone turns to their own course,
like a stallion dashing into the thick of battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky knows the seasons,
and the dove, swallow,[d] and crane[e]
return in due time.
But my people don’t know the Lord’s ways.
8 How can you say, “We are wise;
we possess the Lord’s Instruction,”
when the lying pen of the scribes has surely distorted it?
9 The wise will be shamed and shocked
when they are caught.
Look, they have rejected the Lord’s word;
what kind of wisdom is that?
10 Therefore, I will give their wives to others
and their fields to their captors.
From the least to the greatest,
all are eager to profit.
From prophet to priest,
all trade in falsehood.
11 They treat the wound of my people
as if it were nothing:
“All is well, all is well,” they insist,
when in fact nothing is well.
12 They should be ashamed
of their detestable practices,
but they have no shame;
they don’t even blush!
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen
and stumble when disaster arrives,
declares the Lord.
13 I will put an end to them,[f]
declares the Lord;
there are no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the tree,
only withered leaves.
They have squandered what I have given them![g]
A lament for God’s people
14 Why are we sitting here?
Come, let’s go to the fortified towns
and meet our doom there.
The Lord our God has doomed us
by giving us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord!
15 We longed for relief,
but received none;
for a time of healing,
but found only terror.
16 The snorting of their horses can be heard as far as Dan;
the neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
towns and people alike.
17 See, I’m sending serpents against you,
vipers that you can’t charm,
and they will bite you,
declares the Lord.
18 No healing,
only grief;
my heart is broken.[h]
19 Listen to the weeping of my people
all across the land:
“Isn’t the Lord in Zion?
Is her king no longer there?”
Why then did they anger me with their images,
with pointless foreign gods?
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
yet we aren’t saved.”
21 Because my people are crushed,
I am crushed;
darkness and despair overwhelm me.
What to do with God’s people
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then have my people
not been restored to health?
9 [i] If only my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
for the wounds of my people.
2 [j] If only I could flee for shelter in the desert,
to leave my people
and forget them—
for they are all adulterers,
a bunch of crooks.
3 They bend their tongues like bows
to spew out lies;
they are renowned in the land,
but not for truth.
They go from bad to worse.
They don’t know me!
declares the Lord.
4 Be wary of your friends!
Don’t trust your sibling![k]
Every sibling is a cheater,
and every friend traffics in slander.
5 One cheats the other;
no one tells the truth;
they train themselves to lie;
they wear themselves out by doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deceit,
and in their deceit
they refuse to know me,[l]
declares the Lord.
7 Therefore, the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
I’m going to refine and test them,
for what else can I do with my people?
8 Their tongue is a lethal arrow;
their words are deceitful.
They wish their neighbors well,
but in their hearts plot their ruin.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for this?
declares the Lord;
shouldn’t I avenge such a nation?
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains,
and lament for the grazing lands in the wilderness.
They are dried up and deserted;
no sound of the flocks is heard;
no sign of birds or animals is seen;
all have vanished.
11 I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins,
a den for wild dogs.
I will make the towns of Judah a wasteland, without inhabitant.
12 Who is wise enough to understand this?
Who has been taught by the Lord
and can therefore explain it?
Why has the land been reduced to rubble
and laid waste like a desert,
with no one passing through?
13 The Lord says: It is because they have abandoned my Instruction that I gave them, and haven’t obeyed or followed it. 14 Instead, they have followed their own willful hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to feed this people bitter food and give them poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them among nations about whom neither they nor their ancestors have ever heard. I will pursue them with the sword until all are gone.
17 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Pay attention!
Summon the women who mourn,
let them come;
send for those best trained,
let them come.
18 Hurry!
Let them weep for us
so that our eyes fill up with tears
and water streams down.
19 The sound of sobbing
is heard from Zion:
“We’re devastated!
We’re so ashamed!
We have to leave the land
and abandon our homes!”
20 Women, hear the Lord’s word.
Listen closely to the word
from his mouth:
teach your daughters to mourn;
teach each other to grieve.
21 Death has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses
to eliminate children from the streets,
the youth from the squares.
22 Declare what the Lord says:
Dead bodies will lie
like dung on the fields,
like bundles of grain after the harvest,
with no one to pick them up.
23 The Lord proclaims:
the learned should not boast of their knowledge,
nor warriors boast of their might,
nor the rich boast of their wealth.
24 No, those who boast should boast in this:
that they understand and know me.
I am the Lord who acts with kindness,
justice, and righteousness in the world,
and I delight in these things,
declares the Lord.
25 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will deal with everyone who is physically circumcised: 26 whether they are Egyptians or Judeans, Edomites or Ammonites, Moabites or the desert dwellers who cut the hair on their foreheads. All these nations are really uncircumcised; even the people of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 7:3 Or I will let you dwell
- Jeremiah 7:7 Or I will let you dwell
- Jeremiah 7:12 Or place
- Jeremiah 8:7 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:7 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:13 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:13 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 8:18 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 9:1 8:23 in Heb
- Jeremiah 9:2 9:1 in Heb
- Jeremiah 9:4 Or brother
- Jeremiah 9:6 Heb uncertain
Jeremiah 7-9
New International Version
Jeremiah 7-9
New International Version
False Religion Worthless
7 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand(A) at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:
“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways(B) and your actions, and I will let you live(C) in this place. 4 Do not trust(D) in deceptive(E) words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change(F) your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,(G) 6 if you do not oppress(H) the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood(I) in this place, and if you do not follow other gods(J) to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land(K) I gave your ancestors(L) for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting(M) in deceptive(N) words that are worthless.
9 “‘Will you steal(O) and murder,(P) commit adultery(Q) and perjury,[a](R) burn incense to Baal(S) and follow other gods(T) you have not known, 10 and then come and stand(U) before me in this house,(V) which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?(W) 11 Has this house,(X) which bears my Name, become a den of robbers(Y) to you? But I have been watching!(Z) declares the Lord.
12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh(AA) where I first made a dwelling(AB) for my Name,(AC) and see what I did(AD) to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke(AE) to you again and again,(AF) but you did not listen;(AG) I called(AH) you, but you did not answer.(AI) 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh(AJ) I will now do to the house that bears my Name,(AK) the temple(AL) you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 I will thrust you from my presence,(AM) just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’(AN)
16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea(AO) or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen(AP) to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.(AQ) They pour out drink offerings(AR) to other gods to arouse(AS) my anger. 19 But am I the one they are provoking?(AT) declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?(AU)
20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign(AV) Lord says: My anger(AW) and my wrath will be poured(AX) out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.(AY)
21 “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices(AZ) and eat(BA) the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands(BB) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,(BC) 23 but I gave them this command:(BD) Obey(BE) me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.(BF) Walk in obedience to all(BG) I command you, that it may go well(BH) with you. 24 But they did not listen(BI) or pay attention;(BJ) instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.(BK) They went backward(BL) and not forward. 25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again(BM) I sent you my servants(BN) the prophets.(BO) 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention.(BP) They were stiff-necked(BQ) and did more evil than their ancestors.’(BR)
27 “When you tell(BS) them all this, they will not listen(BT) to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.(BU) 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction.(BV) Truth(BW) has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
29 “‘Cut off(BX) your hair and throw it away; take up a lament(BY) on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned(BZ) this generation that is under his wrath.
The Valley of Slaughter
30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil(CA) in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols(CB) in the house that bears my Name and have defiled(CC) it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth(CD) in the Valley of Ben Hinnom(CE) to burn their sons and daughters(CF) in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.(CG) 32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter,(CH) for they will bury(CI) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33 Then the carcasses(CJ) of this people will become food(CK) for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.(CL) 34 I will bring an end to the sounds(CM) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom(CN) in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem,(CO) for the land will become desolate.(CP)
8 “‘At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones(CQ) of the people of Jerusalem will be removed(CR) from their graves. 2 They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served(CS) and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped.(CT) They will not be gathered up or buried,(CU) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(CV) 3 Wherever I banish them,(CW) all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life,(CX) declares the Lord Almighty.’
Sin and Punishment
4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?(CY)
When someone turns away,(CZ) do they not return?
5 Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;(DA)
they refuse to return.(DB)
6 I have listened(DC) attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent(DD) of their wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course(DE)
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know(DF)
the requirements of the Lord.
8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law(DG) of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
9 The wise(DH) will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed(DI) and trapped.(DJ)
Since they have rejected the word(DK) of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom(DL) do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.(DM)
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;(DN)
prophets(DO) and priests alike,
all practice deceit.(DP)
11 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.(DQ)
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame(DR) at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,(DS)
says the Lord.(DT)
13 “‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine.(DU)
There will be no figs(DV) on the tree,
and their leaves will wither.(DW)
What I have given them
will be taken(DX) from them.[b]’”
14 Why are we sitting here?
Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities(DY)
and perish there!
For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and given us poisoned water(DZ) to drink,
because we have sinned(EA) against him.
15 We hoped for peace(EB)
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.(EC)
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses(ED)
is heard from Dan;(EE)
at the neighing of their stallions
the whole land trembles.(EF)
They have come to devour(EG)
the land and everything in it,
the city and all who live there.
17 “See, I will send venomous snakes(EH) among you,
vipers that cannot be charmed,(EI)
and they will bite you,”
declares the Lord.
18 You who are my Comforter[c] in sorrow,
my heart is faint(EJ) within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:(EK)
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King(EL) no longer there?”
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 Since my people are crushed,(EP) I am crushed;
I mourn,(EQ) and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(ER)
Is there no physician(ES) there?
Why then is there no healing(ET)
for the wound of my people?
9 [d]1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!(EU)
I would weep(EV) day and night
for the slain of my people.(EW)
2 Oh, that I had in the desert(EX)
a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,(EY)
a crowd of unfaithful(EZ) people.
3 “They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;(FA)
it is not by truth
that they triumph[e] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge(FB) me,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Beware of your friends;(FC)
do not trust anyone in your clan.(FD)
For every one of them is a deceiver,[f](FE)
and every friend a slanderer.(FF)
5 Friend deceives friend,(FG)
and no one speaks the truth.(FH)
They have taught their tongues to lie;(FI)
they weary themselves with sinning.
6 You[g] live in the midst of deception;(FJ)
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
7 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:
“See, I will refine(FK) and test(FL) them,
for what else can I do
because of the sin of my people?
8 Their tongue(FM) is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,(FN)
but in their hearts they set traps(FO) for them.(FP)
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge(FQ) myself
on such a nation as this?”
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.(FR)
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds(FS) have all fled
and the animals are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap(FT) of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;(FU)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah(FV)
so no one can live there.”(FW)
12 Who is wise(FX) enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.(FY) 14 Instead, they have followed(FZ) the stubbornness of their hearts;(GA) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” 15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food(GB) and drink poisoned water.(GC) 16 I will scatter them among nations(GD) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,(GE) and I will pursue them with the sword(GF) until I have made an end of them.”(GG)
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Consider now! Call for the wailing women(GH) to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
18 Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.(GI)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How ruined(GJ) we are!
How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
because our houses are in ruins.’”
20 Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
open your ears to the words of his mouth.(GK)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach one another a lament.(GL)
21 Death has climbed in through our windows(GM)
and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
and the young men(GN) from the public squares.
22 Say, “This is what the Lord declares:
“‘Dead bodies will lie
like dung(GO) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”
23 This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom(GP)
or the strong boast of their strength(GQ)
or the rich boast of their riches,(GR)
24 but let the one who boasts boast(GS) about this:
that they have the understanding to know(GT) me,
that I am the Lord,(GU) who exercises kindness,(GV)
justice and righteousness(GW) on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
25 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh(GX)— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.[h](GY) For all these nations are really uncircumcised,(GZ) and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.(HA)”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 7:9 Or and swear by false gods
- Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 8:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25.
- Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
- Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
- Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)
- Jeremiah 9:26 Or wilderness and who clip the hair by their foreheads
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.