Jeremiah 7

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and announce this message there. Say: Listen to the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come in through these gates to worship the LORD.

2Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

NoteThe temple in Jerusalem stood inside a walled courtyard, and its gateways were the ordinary public place for making announcements, since everyone entering to worship had to pass through them. Jeremiah is placed where the whole worshiping crowd must hear him.

3This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Change your ways and the things you do, and I will let you keep living in this place.

3Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

Note"LORD of Armies" renders the Hebrew title *YHWH Tseva'ot*, traditionally "LORD of hosts", the hosts being armies, whether Israel's fighting men or the heavenly forces. It is a title of overwhelming military command. Also note the printing convention: "LORD" in small capitals stands for God's personal name in Hebrew, which the text spells with four consonants and which Jews traditionally do not pronounce aloud; "God" and "Lord" in ordinary type render different Hebrew words.

4Do not trust in false words. Do not keep saying, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD."

4Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

NoteThe threefold repetition is a slogan or chant, quoted mockingly. The temple was the one place where God was held to be present among his people, and many concluded from this that Jerusalem could never fall while the building stood.

5For if you truly change your ways and the things you do, and if you truly deal fairly between one person and another,

5For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

6if you do not mistreat the foreigner, the child with no father, or the widow, and do not kill innocent people in this place, and do not follow other gods, which only harms you,

6If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

NoteThe foreigner (a resident outsider with no clan to defend him), the fatherless child and the widow are a standard trio in Israelite law: the three categories of person with no male relative to protect their interests in court or in the marketplace, and so the people most easily cheated. "Shedding innocent blood" is legal language for judicial murder as much as private killing, condemning the blameless.

7then I will let you keep living in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors, forever and ever.

7Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

8But look: you are trusting in false words that do you no good at all.

8Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, lie under oath, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods you have never known,

9Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

NoteThe list runs closely parallel to the Ten Commandments (theft, murder, adultery, false swearing) as if reciting a charge sheet. Baal was the Canaanite storm and fertility god, worshiped widely in the region; burning incense was a routine act of devotion at his shrines.

10and then come and stand in front of me in this house, which carries my name, and say, "We are safe", safe to go on doing all these hateful things?

10And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

Note"Carries my name" is a legal-sounding phrase for ownership: the house is God's property and under his protection, the way a marked seal or a stamped jar identifies its owner. "We are safe" translates a word meaning rescued or delivered, the people claim the temple visit has already secured them, whatever they do next.

11Has this house, which carries my name, become a robbers' hideout in your eyes? I myself have seen what you are doing, says the LORD.

11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

NoteA robbers' hideout is not where bandits commit their crimes but the cave they retreat to afterwards, where they feel untouchable. That is the force of the image: the temple treated as a safe house.

12Go now to my place at Shiloh, where I first made a home for my name, and look at what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

12But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

NoteShiloh, about twenty miles north of Jerusalem, was the central sanctuary in the period before the monarchy, housing the tent-shrine and the ark. It was destroyed, apparently by the Philistines, and left in ruins, a well-known precedent for a holy place that God did not defend.

13And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and because I spoke to you again and again but you would not listen, and I called to you but you would not answer,

13And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

Note"Again and again" renders a Hebrew idiom that literally reads "rising up early and speaking." To rise early to do something is to do it urgently and repeatedly, from the first light of day.

14I will do to this house that carries my name, the house you trust in, and to this place I gave to you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh.

14Therefore will I do unto this 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 have done to Shiloh.

15I will throw you out of my sight, just as I threw out all your relatives, the whole family line of Ephraim.

15And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

NoteEphraim was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, and its name was used for that kingdom as a whole. Assyria destroyed it and deported its population about a century before Jeremiah spoke; the southern kingdom of Judah, his audience, is being told it is not exempt.

16So do not pray for these people. Do not cry out or plead for them. Do not beg me on their behalf, because I will not listen to you.

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.

17Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

17Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women mix the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to make me angry.

18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their 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.

NoteThe "queen of heaven" is a goddess, most likely the Mesopotamian Ishtar or a related figure worshiped as Astarte, associated with the planet Venus. The cakes were baked in molds, apparently in her shape. A drink offering is wine poured out on the ground or an altar rather than drunk. What is being described is a whole household (children, fathers, women) cheerfully working together at it.

19But is it really me they are hurting? says the LORD. Are they not hurting themselves, and bringing shame on their own faces?

19Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

20So this is what the Lord GOD says: my anger and my fury will be poured out on this place, on people, on animals, on the trees of the field, and on the crops of the ground. It will burn, and no one will put it out.

20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury 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.

21This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, pile your burnt offerings on top of your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves.

21Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.

NoteThis is sarcasm, and it depends on a distinction in the sacrificial system. A burnt offering was consumed entirely on the altar and no part of it was eaten; other sacrifices were shared, with portions cooked and eaten by the worshipers. God tells them to throw the whole burnt offerings onto the pile with the rest and make a meal of the lot: they may as well, since he is not receiving any of it.

22For when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices.

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:

NoteThe Hebrew reads flatly, "I did not speak to your fathers... concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices," and readers have long disputed the force of it: either an outright denial that the sacrificial system originated at the exodus, or a comparative statement, sacrifice was not the point, obedience was. The wording will support either reading.

23This is what I commanded them: Obey my voice, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the whole way I have commanded you, so that things will go well for you.

23But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

24But they would not listen and would not pay attention. They followed their own plans and the stubborn thoughts of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.

24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

25From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you, sending them again and again, day after day.

25Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

26Yet they would not listen to me and would not pay attention. They were stubborn, and they did worse than their ancestors did.

26Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

Note"They were stubborn" translates the idiom "they hardened their neck," drawn from a plow ox that braces its neck against the yoke and refuses to be steered.

27So you will speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You will call out to them, but they will not answer.

27Therefore 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.

28Then you will say to them: This is a nation that will not obey the voice of the LORD its God and will not accept correction. Truth is dead; it is gone from their mouths.

28But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

29Cut off your hair, Jerusalem, and throw it away. Sing a funeral song on the bare hilltops, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that he is angry with.

29Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

NoteShaving the head and throwing the hair away was a public gesture of mourning and disgrace. The Hebrew word used for the hair here is the one for the long consecrated hair of someone under a religious vow, so the image is of a sacred mark being cut off and discarded. The commands are addressed to a woman, the city personified. The "bare hilltops" are treeless heights, exposed places where a wail carries.

30The people of Judah have done what I consider evil, says the LORD. They have set up their disgusting idols in the house that carries my name, and so they have made it filthy.

30For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

Note"Disgusting idols" renders a word for objects that are ritually revolting; "made it filthy" is the language of ceremonial defilement, meaning the building has been rendered unfit for its purpose rather than merely dirtied.

31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something I never commanded, and something that never even entered my mind.

31And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

Note"High places" were raised open-air worship platforms, usually with an altar. Topheth was an installation in the Valley of Ben Hinnom ("the valley of the son of Hinnom"), which ran along the south side of Jerusalem; the name may derive from a word for a fireplace or hearth, and in Hebrew it is written with the vowels of the word for "shame." The Greek form of the valley's name, Gehenna, later became a standard word for hell. Child sacrifice by fire is attested here under two Judean kings.

32So look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room left.

32Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.

NoteA place-name is being replaced by a description of what happens there, from "Topheth" to "the Valley of Slaughter." Burying corpses in the valley would itself make the site permanently unclean.

33The dead bodies of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them off.

33And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

NoteTo be left unburied and eaten by scavengers was regarded as the worst possible end, a final humiliation beyond death; "no one to scare them off" means there is nobody left alive to drive the birds away.

34Then I will put an end to the sound of joy and the sound of gladness in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. The voices of the bridegroom and the bride will stop, because the land will be left empty and ruined.

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 be desolate.

NoteThe songs and shouting of a wedding procession were the loudest ordinary noise a town produced. Their absence is a standard shorthand for a place emptied of normal life.