| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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! |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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!” |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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? |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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! |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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 |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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! |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the LORD. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.” |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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.” |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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! |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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!’ |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27“Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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 |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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! |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away. |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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