| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 1The LORD said to Jeremiah: |
| 2"Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: "'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. | 2"Stand in the gate of the LORD's temple and proclaim this message: 'Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the LORD. Hear what the LORD has to say. |
| 3This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. | 3The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. |
| 4Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" | 4Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, "We are safe! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here! The temple of the LORD is here!" |
| 5If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, | 5You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. |
| 6if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, | 6Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. |
| 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. | 7If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. |
| 8But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. | 8"'But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you. |
| 9"'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, | 9You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known. |
| 10and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things? | 10Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, "We are safe!" You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! |
| 11Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. | 11Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the LORD. |
| 12"'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. | 12So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did. |
| 13While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. | 13You also have done all these things, says the LORD, and I have spoken to you over and over again. But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent! |
| 14Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. | 14So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just like I destroyed Shiloh. |
| 15I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.' | 15And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.'" |
| 16"So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. | 16Then the LORD said, "As for you, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, because I will not listen to you. |
| 17Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? | 17Do you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? |
| 18The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. | 18Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just to trouble me. |
| 19But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? | 19But I am not really the one being troubled!" says the LORD. "Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame! |
| 20"'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place--on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land--and it will burn and not be quenched. | 20So," the Lord GOD says, "my raging fury will be poured out on this land. It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished." |
| 21"'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! | 21The LORD said to the people of Judah, "The LORD God of Israel who rules over all says: 'You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! |
| 22For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, | 22Consider this: When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. |
| 23but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. | 23I also explicitly commanded them: "Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you." |
| 24But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. | 24But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. |
| 25From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. | 25From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, day after day. |
| 26But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.' | 26But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.'" |
| 27"When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. | 27Then the LORD said to me, "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you. |
| 28Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. | 28So tell them: 'This is a nation that has not obeyed the LORD their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore. |
| 29"'Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath. | 29So, mourn, you people of this nation. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the LORD has decided to reject and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!'" |
| 30"'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. | 30The LORD says, "I have rejected them because the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and have defiled it. |
| 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. | 31They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing! |
| 32So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. | 32So, watch out!" says the LORD. "The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room. |
| 33Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. | 33Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. There will not be any survivors to scare them away. |
| 34I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate. | 34I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland." |
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