Jeremiah 7
Amend Your Ways and
Your Doings |
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the
LORD, saying,
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Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say,
Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
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Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I
will cause you to dwell in this place.
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4 |
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The
temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
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For if ye thoroughly amend your ways
and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and
his neighbor;
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if ye oppress not the stranger,
the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this
place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt;
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then will I cause you to dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and
ever.
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Behold, ye trust in lying words, that
cannot profit.
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9 |
Will ye steal, murder, and commit
adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Ba'al, and walk
after other gods whom ye know not;
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and come and stand before me in this
house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do
all these abominations?
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Is this house, which is called by my
name, become a den of robbers Mt. 21.13 · Mk. 11.17 · Lk. 19.46 in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the
LORD.
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But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what
I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
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13 |
And now, because ye have done all these
works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you,
rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you,
but ye answered not;
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14 |
therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the
place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to
Shiloh. Josh. 18.1 · Ps. 78.60 · Jer. 26.6
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And I will cast you out of my sight, as I
have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of
E'phra-im.
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Therefore 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.
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Seest thou not what they do in the cities
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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The children gather wood, and the fathers
kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make
cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto
other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
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Do they provoke me to anger? saith the
LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
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Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured
out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of
the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and
shall not be quenched.
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The Punishment for
Judah's Rebellion |
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Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt
offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
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For I spake not unto your fathers, nor
commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of
Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
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but this thing commanded I them, saying,
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people:
and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may
be well unto you.
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But they hearkened not, nor inclined
their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination
of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
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Since the day that your fathers came
forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto
you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
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yet they hearkened not unto me, nor
inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than
their fathers.
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Therefore thou shalt speak all these
words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also
call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
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But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is
perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
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Cut off thine 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 his wrath.
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For the children of Judah have done
evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set
their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to
pollute it.
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And they have built the high places of
Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 2 Kgs.
23.10 · Jer.
32.35 to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; Lev. 18.21 which I commanded them not, neither came it into my
heart.
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Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that it shall no more be called
Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no
place.
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And the carcasses of this people shall be
meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth;
and none shall fray them away.
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34 |
Then will I cause to cease from the
cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of
mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and
the voice of the bride: Jer. 16.9 ; 25.10 · Rev. 18.23 for the land shall be desolate.
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