| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1The message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1The LORD said to Jeremiah: |
| 2"Stand at the gate of the LORD's Temple and proclaim this message there. Say, 'Listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.'" | 2"Stand in the gate of the LORD's temple and proclaim this message: 'Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the LORD. Hear what the LORD has to say. |
| 3This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Change your ways and your deeds, and I'll let you live in this place. | 3The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. |
| 4Don't trust deceptive words like these, and say, 'The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,' | 4Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, "We are safe! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here!" |
| 5but rather, truly change your ways and your deeds. If you truly practice justice between each person and his neighbor, | 5You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. |
| 6and if you don't oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don't shed an innocent person's blood in this place, and if you don't follow other gods to your own harm, | 6Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. |
| 7then I'll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever. | 7If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. |
| 8"Look, you're trusting in deceptive words that cannot benefit. | 8"'But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you. |
| 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don't know, | 9You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known. |
| 10and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, 'We're delivered' so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God? | 10Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, "We are safe!" You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! |
| 11Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD. | 11Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the LORD. |
| 12"Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. | 12So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did. |
| 13Now, because you have done all these things," declares the LORD, "I spoke to you over and over again, but you didn't listen. I called to you, but you didn't answer. | 13You also have done all these things, says the LORD, and I have spoken to you over and over again. But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent! |
| 14Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors. | 14So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just like I destroyed Shiloh. |
| 15I'll cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim. | 15And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.'" |
| 16"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you. | 16Then the LORD said, "As for you, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, because I will not listen to you. |
| 17Don't you see what they're doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? | 17Do you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? |
| 18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour out liquid offerings to other gods in order to provoke me. | 18Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just to trouble me. |
| 19Are they provoking me?" asks the LORD. "Is it not themselves, and to their own shame?" | 19But I am not really the one being troubled!" says the LORD. "Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame! |
| 20Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm about to pour out my anger and my wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn, and it won't be put out." | 20So," the Lord GOD says, "my raging fury will be poured out on this land. It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished." |
| 21This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. | 21The LORD said to the people of Judah, "The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says: 'You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! |
| 22Indeed, when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn't speak or command them about burnt offering and sacrifice, | 22Consider this: When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. |
| 23but I did give them this command: 'Obey me and I'll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.' | 23I also explicitly commanded them: "Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you." |
| 24But they didn't listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward. | 24But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. |
| 25From the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this present time, I've sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, again and again. | 25From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, day after day. |
| 26But they didn't listen to me, and they didn't pay attention. They stiffened their necks, and they did more evil than their ancestors. | 26But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.'" |
| 27"You will tell them all these things, but they won't listen to you. You will call out to them, but they won't answer you. | 27Then the LORD said to me, "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you. |
| 28You will say to them, 'This is the nation that wouldn't listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn't accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.' | 28So tell them: 'This is a nation that has not obeyed the LORD their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore. |
| 29"Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath. | 29So, mourn, you people of this nation. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the LORD has decided to reject and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!'" |
| 30"For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," declares the LORD. "They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it. | 30The LORD says, "I have rejected them because the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and have defiled it. |
| 31They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn't command this, and it never entered my mind! | 31They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing! |
| 32"Therefore, the time is near," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They'll bury in Topheth because there is no other place to do it. | 32So, watch out!" says the LORD. "The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room. |
| 33The dead bodies of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the land, and no one will disturb them. | 33Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. There will not be any survivors to scare them away. |
| 34In the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem I'll bring an end to the sound of gladness and rejoicing, to the sounds of the bridegroom and bride, for the land will become a wasteland." | 34I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland." |
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