Jeremiah 1:4-10

Common English Bible

Call of Jeremiah

⁴The Lord’s word came to me:

⁵“Before I created you in the womb I knew you;
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I made you a prophet to the nations.”
⁶“Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak
    because I’m only a child.”
⁷The Lord responded,
    “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’
        Where I send you, you must go;
        what I tell you, you must say.
⁸Don’t be afraid of them,
    because I’m with you to rescue you,”
        declares the Lord.
⁹Then the Lord stretched out his hand,
    touched my mouth, and said to me,
    “I’m putting my words in your mouth.
¹⁰This very day I appoint you over nations and empires,
    to dig up and pull down,
    to destroy and demolish,
    to build and plant.”

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Jeremiah 7:1-11

Common English Bible

The Lord’s temple

7 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: ²Stand near the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim there this message: Listen to the Lord’s word, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Improve your conduct and your actions, and I will dwell with you^[a] in this place. ⁴Don’t trust in lies: “This is the Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple!” ⁵No, if you truly reform your ways and your actions; if you treat each other justly; ⁶if you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷only then will I dwell with you^[b] in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time.

⁸And yet you trust in lies that will only hurt you. ⁹Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, “We are safe,” only to keep on doing all these detestable things? ¹¹Do you regard this temple, which bears my name, as a hiding place for criminals? I can see what’s going on here, declares the Lord.

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