Jeremias 7

¹ The woordes that came to Ieremiah from the Lorde, saying,

² Stand in the gate of the Lordes house and crie this woorde there, and say, Heare the woorde of the Lord, all yee of Iudah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lorde.

³ Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Amend your waies and your woorkes, and I will let you dwell in this place.

⁴ Trust ye not inBelieve not the false prophets, who say that for the temple's sake, and the sacrifices there the Lord will preserve you, and so nourish you in your sin, and vain confidence.lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these.

⁵ For if you amende and redresse your waies and your woorkes: if you execute iudgement betweene a man and his neighbour,

⁶ And oppresse not the stranger, the fatherlesse and the widow and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walke after other gods to your destruction,

⁷ ThenGod shows on what condition he made his promise to this temple that they would be a holy people to him, as he would be a faithful God to them.will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

⁸ Beholde, you trust in lying woordes, that can not profite.

⁹ Will you steale, murder, and commit adulterie, and sweare falsely and burne incense vnto Baal, and walke after other gods whome yee knowe not?

¹⁰ And come and stande before mee in this House, whereupon my Name is called, and saye, We are deliuered, though we haue done all these abominations?

¹¹ Is this house, which is called by my name, becomeAs thieves hidden in holes and dens think themselves safe, so when you are in my temple, you think to be covered with the holiness of it, and that I cannot see your wickedness, (Mat_21:13).a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it], saith the LORD.

¹² But go ye now to my place which [was] in Shiloh,Because they depended so much on the temple, which was for his promise, that he would be present and defend them where the ark was, he sends them to God's judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests slain, and the people miserably discomfited, (1Sa_4:11; Jer_26:6).where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³ And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spoke to you,That is, I never ceased to warn you, as in (Isa_65:2; Pro_1:23).rising early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, butHe shows the only remedy to redress our faults: to allow God to lead us in the way, and to obey his calling, (Isa_66:4).ye answered not;

¹⁴ Therefore will I do vnto this House, wherupon my Name is called, wherein also yee trust, euen vnto the place that I gaue to you & to your fathers, as I haue done vnto Shilo.

¹⁵ And I will castI will send you into captivity as I have done Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes.you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.

¹⁶ ThereforeTo assure them that God had determined with himself to punish their wickedness, he shows the prayer of the godly cannot help them, while they remain in their obstinacy against God, and will not use the means that he uses to call them to repentance, (Jer_11:14, Jer_14:11).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.

¹⁷ Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem?

¹⁸ The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes toThat is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars, which they called the queen of heaven, (Jer_44:17; 2Ki_23:5).the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

¹⁹ Doe they prouoke me to anger, sayeth the Lorde, and not themselues to the confusion of their owne faces?

²⁰ Therefore thus sayeth the Lorde God, Beholde, mine anger and my wrath shall be powred vpon this place, vpon man and vpon beast, and vpon the tree of the fielde, and vpon the fruite of the grounde, and it shall burne and not bee quenched.

²¹ Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings vnto your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.

²² ForShowing that it was not his chief purpose and intent, that they should offer sacrifices, but that they should regard, why they were ordained: that is, to be joined to the word as seals and confirmations of remissions of sins in Christ: for without the word they were vain and unprofitable.I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

²³ But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voyce, and I will be your God, and yee shalbe my people: and walke yee in all the wayes which I haue commaunded you, that it may be well vnto you.

²⁴ But they would not obey, nor incline their eare, but went after the counsels and the stubbernesse of their wicked heart, and went backewarde and not forwarde.

²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came forth from the land of Egypt toWhich was about fourteen hundred years.this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, dailyRead (Jer_7:13).rising early and sending [them]:

²⁶ Yet would they not heare me nor encline their eare, but hardened their necke & did worse then their fathers.

²⁷ Therefore thou shalt speak all these words to them; but theyBy which he shows that the pastors should not leave their flocks in their obstinacy, for the Lord will use the means of his servants to make the wicked more faulty and to prove his.will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call to them; but they will not answer thee.

²⁸ But thou shalt say vnto them, This is a nation that heareth not the voice of the Lorde their God, nor receiueth discipline: trueth is perished, and is cleane gone out of their mouth.

²⁹ Cut off thyIn sign of mourning, as in (Job_1:20).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 hisAgainst whom he had just opportunity to pour out his wrath (Mic_1:6).wrath.

³⁰ For the children of Iudah haue done euill in my sight, sayth the Lorde: they haue set their abominations in the House, whereupon my Name is called, to pollute it.

³¹ And they have built the high places ofOf Topheth, read (2Ki_23:10).Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which IBut commanded the opposite, as in (Lev_18:21, Lev_20:3; Deu_18:10).commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.

³² Therefore beholde, the dayes come, sayeth the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall burie in Topheth til there be no place.

³³ And ye carkeises of this people shalbe meat for the foules of the heauen and for the beastes of the earth, and none shall fraie them away.

³⁴ Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Iudah and from the streetes of Ierusalem the voice of mirth & the voice of gladnesse, the voice of the bridegrom & the voice of the bride: for the lande shalbe desolate.