| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1The message that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: |
| 2"Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. | 2"Stand at the gate of the LORD's Temple and proclaim this message there. Say, 'Listen to this message from the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.'" |
| 3"This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. | 3This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Change your ways and your deeds, and I'll let you live in this place. |
| 4Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD. | 4Don't trust deceptive words like these, and say, 'The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD,' |
| 5Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, | 5but rather, truly change your ways and your deeds. If you truly practice justice between each person and his neighbor, |
| 6if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, | 6and if you don't oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don't shed an innocent person's blood in this place, and if you don't follow other gods to your own harm, |
| 7I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever. | 7then I'll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever. |
| 8But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help. | 8"Look, you're trusting in deceptive words that cannot benefit. |
| 9"Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known? | 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don't know, |
| 10Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and say, 'We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts? | 10and then come to stand before me in this house that is called by my name and say, 'We're delivered' so we can continue to do all these things that are repugnant to God? |
| 11Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it." This is the LORD's declaration. | 11Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD. |
| 12"But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. | 12"Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. |
| 13Now, because you have done all these things"--this is the LORD's declaration--"and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn't listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn't answer, | 13Now, because you have done all these things," declares the LORD, "I spoke to you over and over again, but you didn't listen. I called to you, but you didn't answer. |
| 14what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name--the house in which you trust--the place that I gave you and your ancestors. | 14Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors. |
| 15I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim. | 15I'll cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim. |
| 16"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you. | 16"As for you, don't pray on behalf of this people, don't cry or offer a petition for them, and don't plead with me, for I won't listen to you. |
| 17Don't you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? | 17Don't you see what they're doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? |
| 18The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger. | 18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour out liquid offerings to other gods in order to provoke me. |
| 19But are they really provoking Me?" This is the LORD's declaration. "Isn't it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?" | 19Are they provoking me?" asks the LORD. "Is it not themselves, and to their own shame?" |
| 20Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look, My anger--My burning wrath--is about to be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched." | 20Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm about to pour out my anger and my wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn, and it won't be put out." |
| 21This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves, | 21This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. |
| 22for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. | 22Indeed, when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn't speak or command them about burnt offering and sacrifice, |
| 23However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you. | 23but I did give them this command: 'Obey me and I'll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.' |
| 24Yet they didn't listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward. | 24But they didn't listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward. |
| 25Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets to you time and time again. | 25From the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this present time, I've sent all my servants, the prophets, to you, again and again. |
| 26However, they wouldn't listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their ancestors. | 26But they didn't listen to me, and they didn't pay attention. They stiffened their necks, and they did more evil than their ancestors. |
| 27"When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. | 27"You will tell them all these things, but they won't listen to you. You will call out to them, but they won't answer you. |
| 28You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished--it has disappeared from their mouths. | 28You will say to them, 'This is the nation that wouldn't listen to the voice of the LORD its God and wouldn't accept correction. Truth has perished; it has been eliminated from their discussions.' |
| 29Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath. | 29"Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath. |
| 30"For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight." This is the LORD's declaration. "They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it. | 30"For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," declares the LORD. "They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it. |
| 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought. | 31They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn't command this, and it never entered my mind! |
| 32"Therefore, take note! Days are coming"--the LORD's declaration--"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place. | 32"Therefore, the time is near," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They'll bury in Topheth because there is no other place to do it. |
| 33The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away. | 33The dead bodies of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the land, and no one will disturb them. |
| 34I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste. | 34In the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem I'll bring an end to the sound of gladness and rejoicing, to the sounds of the bridegroom and bride, for the land will become a wasteland." |
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