God is going to destroy his temple
1The Lord talked to Jeremiah and said: 2‘You must go and stand at the gate of the temple and talk loudly and say: “All the people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord, you must listen to what the Lord says. 3The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel says: You must live in the right way and do what is right, and then I will let you live in this land. 4Do not think that all will be well when people say: “‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”’ 5You must truly live in the right way and do what is right, and you must really be fair when you judge. 6Don't let strangers, orphans and widows suffer, do not kill innocent people and don't serve other gods, because if you do, it will destroy you and bring you a lot of trouble. 7If you live in the right way and do what is right, I will be with you in this place that I gave to your forefathers forever.
8But look what is happening to you now. You think all will be well when you trust things that are not_true, things that can not help you. 9You steal and you kill people. You commit_adultery, you promise things that you don't want to do and you tell lies. You bring incense-offerings for Baal and you serve other gods that you did not know before. 10It is wrong to do all these things that are sinful and then come and stand before Me in this house that has my name, and say: “‘You will save us.”’ 11Do you think this house that has my name is a safe place for thieves? You must know that I can see everything that happens here.
12Go to the town of Shiloh, to the place that had my name before, the place where I lived. Go and look what I did to that place, how I destroyed it, because my people sinned. 13You have done all these bad things and I continued to talk to you, but you did not listen. I called you but you did not answer Me. 14That is why I will do to this place, this temple that has my name, the same as I did to Shiloh, to the place that I gave to you and your forefathers. You trust in this temple and think that it will help you so that all will be well. 15But I will throw you away as I did your family, the descendants of Ephraim.”
16And you, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people, and do not beg Me or ask Me to bless them, because I will not listen to you. 17You can see for yourself what they are doing in the towns and cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. 18The boys cut wood and the fathers make fire and the women mix dough and bake cakes for the goddess, for the Queen of Heaven. They give drink-offerings to other gods to make Me angry. 19But it is not Me that they are making unhappy. They are making themselves unhappy, and they are the ones who will suffer.’ This is what the Lord says.
20That is why the Lord also says: ‘I am angry and I will punish everyone and everything in this place, people and animals, trees and plants. It will be like a fire that keeps on burning.’
It does not help to sacrifice_offerings
21The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: ‘It will be better if you eat the meat of your burnt-offerings yourselves with the meat of your other offerings. 22When I brought your forefathers out of Egypt, I did not tell them that burnt-offerings and other offerings were the most important. 23I told them that the most important thing was to listen to Me, and then I would be their God and they would be my people. You must always live as I want, and then all will be well with you.
24But your forefathers did not listen to Me. They did not obey Me. They lived as they wanted to. They were stubborn and they lived as their sinful hearts told them. They did not want to be near Me. 25You did not listen to Me, from the time that your forefathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day. I have sent my servants, the prophets, to you, again and again 26but you did not listen to Me, and you did not want to obey Me. You were stubborn and you were worse than your forefathers.
27Jeremiah, you will say all these things to the people, but they will not listen to you. You will call them, but they will not answer you. 28Then you will say: “These are the people who did not listen to the Lord their God, and who did not want to do what He told them. Nothing that they are doing is right. 29You people of this nation, you think that you are Nazirites, but you must cut off your long hair and sing a sad song, a lamentation, on the hills where there are no trees. You must cry and mourn for your people who have died. The Lord has left his people because He is angry with them and enemies have taken them away.” ’
30The Lord says: ‘I did this because the people of Judah have done things that I hate. They have put idols in my temple, the temple that has my name, and they have made it impure. 31And they have built a place_of_sacrifice in the Hinnom Valley where they made fires and burnt their sons and daughters. I have never told them to do something like that, and I have never thought of something like that.’
32The Lord says: ‘There will come a time when people will no longer talk about the place in the Hinnom Valley where they made a fire. They will name that place Murder Valley and they will bury the dead people there, because there will be no other place for graves. 33The birds and wild animals will eat the bodies of the dead people of this nation, and no one will chase the birds and animals away. 34In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem it will be quiet. No one will sing or rejoice and no one will get married because the land will be destroyed.’
