Jeremiah 7 - Prayer Tents

The Nation That Wouldn’t Obey God

7The Message from GOD to Jeremiah:H1697H3414H3068H559 2"Stand in the gate of GOD's Temple and preach this Message. "Say, 'Listen, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship GOD.H5975H8179H3068H1004H7121H1697H559H8085H1697H3068H3063H935H8179H7812H3068 3GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, has this to say to you: "'Clean up your act—the way you live, the things you do—so I can make my home with you in this place.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H3190H1870H4611H7931H4725 4Don't for a minute believe the lies being spoken here—"This is GOD's Temple, GOD's Temple, GOD's Temple!"H982H8267H1697H559H1964H3068H1964H3068H1964H3068 5Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors,H3190H3190H1870H4611H6213H6213H4941H376H7453 6only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people on this very site and no longer destroying your souls by using this Temple as a front for other gods—H6231H1616H3490H490H8210H5355H1818H4725H3212H310H312H430H7451 7only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Temple.H7931H4725H776H5414H1H5704H5769H5769 8"'Get smart! Your leaders are handing you a pack of lies, and you're swallowing them!H982H8267H1697H3276 9Use your heads! Do you think you can rob and murder, have sex with the neighborhood wives, tell lies nonstop, worship the local gods, and buy every novel religious commodity on the market—H1589H7523H5003H7650H8267H6999H1168H1980H310H312H430H3045 10and then march into this Temple, set apart for my worship, and say, "We're safe!" thinking that the place itself gives you a license to go on with all this outrageous sacrilege?H935H5975H6440H1004H7121H8034H559H5337H6213H8441 11A cave full of criminals! Do you think you can turn this Temple, set apart for my worship, into something like that? Well, think again. I've got eyes in my head. I can see what's going on.'" GOD's Decree!H1004H7121H8034H4631H6530H5869H7200H5002H3068 12"'Take a trip down to the place that was once in Shiloh, where I met my people in the early days. Take a look at those ruins, what I did to it because of the evil ways of my people Israel.H3212H4725H7887H7931H8034H7223H7200H6213H6440H7451H5971H3478 13"'So now, because of the way you have lived and failed to listen, even though time and again I took you aside and talked seriously with you, and because you refused to change when I called you to repent,H6213H4639H5002H3068H1696H7925H1696H8085H7121H6030 14I'm going to do to this Temple, set aside for my worship, this place you think is going to keep you safe no matter what, this place I gave as a gift to your ancestors and you, the same as I did to Shiloh.H6213H1004H7121H8034H982H4725H5414H1H6213H7887 15And as for you, I'm going to get rid of you, the same as I got rid of those old relatives of yours around Shiloh, your fellow Israelites in that former kingdom to the north.'H7993H6440H7993H251H2233H669 16"And you, Jeremiah, don't waste your time praying for this people. Don't offer to make petitions or intercessions. Don't bother me with them. I'm not listening.H6419H5971H5375H7440H8605H1157H6293H8085 17Can't you see what they're doing in all the villages of Judah and in the Jerusalem streets?H7200H6213H5892H3063H2351H3389 18Why, they've got the children gathering wood while the fathers build fires and the mothers make bread to be offered to 'the Queen of Heaven'! And as if that weren't bad enough, they go around pouring out libations to any other gods they come across, just to hurt me.H1121H3950H6086H1H1197H784H802H3888H1217H6213H3561H4446H8064H5258H5262H312H430H3707 19"But is it me they're hurting?" GOD's Decree! "Aren't they just hurting themselves? Exposing themselves shamefully? Making themselves ridiculous?H3707H5002H3068H1322H6440 20"Here's what the Master GOD has to say: 'My white-hot anger is about to descend on this country and everything in it—people and animals, trees in the field and vegetables in the garden—a raging wildfire that no one can put out.'H559H136H3069H639H2534H5413H4725H120H929H6086H7704H6529H127H1197H3518 21"The Message from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: 'Go ahead! Put your burnt offerings with all your other sacrificial offerings and make a good meal for yourselves. I sure don't want them!H559H3068H6635H430H3478H5595H5930H2077H398H1320 22When I delivered your ancestors out of Egypt, I never said anything to them about wanting burnt offerings and sacrifices as such.H1696H1H6680H3117H3318H776H4714H1697H5930H2077 23But I did say this, commanded this: "Obey me. Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well."H1697H6680H559H8085H6963H430H5971H1980H1870H6680H3190 24"'But do you think they listened? Not a word of it. They did just what they wanted to do, indulged any and every evil whim and got worse day by day.H8085H5186H241H3212H4156H8307H7451H3820H268H6440 25From the time your ancestors left the land of Egypt until now, I've supplied a steady stream of my servants the prophets,H3117H1H3318H776H4714H3117H7971H5650H5030H3117H7925H7971 26but do you think the people listened? Not once. Stubborn as mules and worse than their ancestors!'H8085H5186H241H7185H6203H7489H1 27"Tell them all this, but don't expect them to listen. Call out to them, but don't expect an answer.H1696H1697H8085H7121H6030 28Tell them, 'You are the nation that wouldn't obey GOD, that refused all discipline. Truth has disappeared. There's not a trace of it left in your mouths.H559H1471H8085H6963H3068H430H3947H4148H530H6H3772H6310 29"'So shave your heads. Go bald to the hills and lament, For GOD has rejected and left this generation that has made him so angry.'H1494H5145H7993H5375H7015H8205H3068H3988H5203H1755H5678 30"The people of Judah have lived evil lives while I've stood by and watched." GOD's Decree. "In deliberate insult to me, they've set up their obscene god-images in the very Temple that was built to honor me.H1121H3063H6213H7451H5869H5002H3068H7760H8251H1004H7121H8034H2930 31They've constructed Topheth altars for burning babies in prominent places all through the valley of Ben-hinnom, altars for burning their sons and daughters alive in the fire—a shocking perversion of all that I am and all I command.H1129H1116H8612H1516H1121H2011H8313H1121H1323H784H6680H5927H3820 32"But soon, very soon"—GOD's Decree!—"the names Topheth and Ben-hinnom will no longer be used. They'll call the place what it is: Murder Meadow. Corpses will be stacked up in Topheth because there's no room left to bury them!H3117H935H5002H3068H559H8612H1516H1121H2011H1516H2028H6912H8612H369H4725 33Corpses abandoned in the open air, fed on by crows and coyotes, who have the run of the place.H5038H5971H3978H5775H8064H929H776H2729 34And I'll empty both smiles and laughter from the villages of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. No wedding songs, no holiday sounds. Dead silence.H7673H5892H3063H2351H3389H6963H8342H6963H8057H6963H2860H6963H3618H776H2723