| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, | 1The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, |
| 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. | 2“Go to the entrance of the LORD’s Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the LORD! Listen to it, all of you who worship here! |
| 3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. | 3This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. |
| 4Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ | 4But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’s Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’s Temple is here! The LORD’s Temple is here!” |
| 5For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, | 5But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; |
| 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, | 6only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. |
| 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. | 7Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. |
| 8But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. | 8“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! |
| 9Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, | 9Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, |
| 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’? | 10and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? |
| 11Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD. | 11Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken! |
| 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. | 12“‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. |
| 13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, | 13While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to 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. | 14So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. |
| 15And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim. | 15And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel. ’ Judah’s Persistent Idolatry |
| 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. | 16“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, 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? | 17Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns 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. | 18No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! |
| 19But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame? | 19Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the LORD. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, 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. | 20So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.” |
| 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! | 21This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! |
| 22For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, | 22When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. |
| 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. | 23This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ |
| 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. | 24“But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of 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. | 25From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. |
| 26Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers. | 26But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors. |
| 27When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. | 27“Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. |
| 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. | 28Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on 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.’ | 29Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’ 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. | 30“The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the LORD. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it. |
| 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind. | 31They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! |
| 32So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. | 32So beware, for the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them. |
| 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. | 33The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left 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.” | 34I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation. |
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