1THIS WORD CAME FROM THE LORD to Jeremiah. 2Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there make your proclamation: Listen to the words of the LORD, all you men of Judah who come in through these gates to worship him. 3These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your doings, that I may let you live in this place. 4You keep saying, 'This place is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!' This catchword of yours is a lie; put no trust in it. 5Mend your ways and your doings, deal fairly with one another, 6do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, shed no innocent blood in this place, do not run after other gods to your own ruin. 7Then will I let you live in this place, in the land which I gave long ago to your forefathers for all time. 8You gain nothing by putting your trust in this lie. 9You steal, you murder, you commit adultery and perjury, you burn sacrifices to Baal, you run after other gods whom you have not known; 10then you come and stand before me in this house, which bears my name, and say, 'We are safe'; safe, you think, to indulge in all these abominations. 11Do you think that this house, this house which bears my name, is a robbers' cave? I myself have seen all this, says the LORD. 12Go to my shrine at Shiloh, which once I made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13And now you have done all these things, says the LORD; though I took pains to speak to you, you did not listen, and though I called, you gave no answer. 14Therefore what I did to Shiloh I will do to this house which bears my name, the house in which you put your trust, the place I gave to you and your forefathers; 15I will fling you away out of my sight, as I flung away all your kinsfolk, the whole brood of Ephraim.
16Offer up no prayer, Jeremiah, for this people, raise no plea or prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede with me; for I will not listen to you. 17Do you not see what is going on in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18Children are gathering wood, fathers lighting fires, women kneading dough to make crescent-cakes in honour of the queen of heaven; and drink-offerings are poured out to other gods than me—all to provoke and hurt me. 19But is it I, says the LORD, whom they hurt? No; it is themselves, covering their own selves with shame. 20Therefore, says the Lord GOD, my anger and my fury shall fall on this place, on man and beast, on trees and crops, and it shall burn unquenched.
21These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Add whole-offerings to sacrifices and eat the flesh if you will. 22But when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt, I gave them no commands about whole-offering and sacrifice; I said not a word about them. 23What I did command them was this: If you obey me, I will be your God and you shall be my people. You must conform to all my commands, if you would prosper. 24But they did not listen; they paid no heed, and persisted in disobedience with evil and stubborn hearts; they looked backwards and not forwards, 25from the day when your forefathers left Egypt until now. I took pains to send to them all my servants the prophets; 26they did not listen to me, they paid no heed, but were obstinate and proved even more wicked than their forefathers. 27When you tell them this, they will not listen to you; if you call them, they will not answer. 28Then you shall say to them, This is the nation that did not obey the LORD its God nor accept correction; truth has perished, it is heard no more on their lips.
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