Jeremiah 7:1-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
II. Oracles Primarily from the Days of Jehoiakim
Chapter 7
The Temple Sermon.[a] 1 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message there: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord! 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds so that I may dwell with you in this place.(A) 4 Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!”(B) 5 Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; 6 if you no longer oppress the alien,[b] the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm,(C) 7 only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.(D)
8 But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss! 9 Do you think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not know,(E) 10 and then come and stand in my presence in this house, which bears my name, and say: “We are safe! We can commit all these abominations again!”?(F) 11 Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I have seen it for myself!—oracle of the Lord.(G) 12 Go to my place at Shiloh,[c] where I made my name dwell in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.(H) 13 And now, because you have committed all these deeds—oracle of the Lord—because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly, and because you did not answer, though I called you, 14 I will do to this house, which bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh.(I) 15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast away all your kindred, all the offspring of Ephraim.(J)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 7:1–15 The Temple of the Lord will not guarantee safety against enemy invasion or any other misfortune.
- 7:6 The alien: specially protected within Israelite society; cf. Ex 22:20; Nm 9:14; 15:14; Dt 5:14; 28:43.
- 7:12 Shiloh: an important sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was kept, according to the Books of Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel. In response to the corrupt behavior of the priests serving there, God allows the Philistines to destroy Shiloh and take the ark of the covenant. Cf. 1 Sm 1:9; 4:3–4; Ps 78:60, 68–69.
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