Jeremiah 6:23-7:20

English Standard Version

²³They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are ^(A)cruel and have no mercy;
    ^(B)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
²⁴We have heard the report of it;
    ^(C)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    ^(D)pain as of a woman in labor.
²⁵Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    ^(E)terror is on every side.
²⁶O daughter of my people, ^(F)put on sackcloth,
    and ^(G)roll in ashes;
^(H)make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.

²⁷“I have made you ^(I)a tester of metals among my people,
    that you may know and ^(J)test their ways.
²⁸^(K)They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    ^(L)going about with slanders;
they are ^(M)bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.
²⁹The ^(N)bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
^(O)in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
³⁰^(P)Rejected silver they are called,
    for the Lord has rejected them.”

Evil in the Land

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²^(Q)“Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(R)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴^(S)Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

⁵“For if you truly ^(T)amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(U)execute justice one with another, ⁶if you ^(V)do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^(W)or shed innocent blood in this place, ^(X)and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, ⁷^(Y)then I will let you dwell in this place, ^(Z)in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

⁸“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹^(AA)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^(AB)swear falsely, ^(AC)make offerings to Baal, ^(AD)and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, ^(AE)which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹^(AF)Has this house, ^(AG)which is called by my name, ^(AH)become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. ¹²Go now to ^(AI)my place that was in Shiloh, ^(AJ)where I made my name dwell at first, and ^(AK)see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. ¹³And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and ^(AL)when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and ^(AM)when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴therefore I will do to ^(AN)the house ^(AO)that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, ^(AP)as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵^(AQ)And I will cast you out of my sight, ^(AR)as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of ^(AS)Ephraim.

¹⁶“As for you, ^(AT)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. ¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^(AU)and the women knead dough, to ^(AV)make cakes for ^(AW)the queen of heaven. And ^(AX)they pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^(AY)to provoke me to anger. ¹⁹^(AZ)Is it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^(BA)to their own shame? ²⁰Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(BB)my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; ^(BC)it will burn and not be quenched.”