The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 “^aStand in the gate of the LORD’S house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter by these gates to worship the LORD.’” 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “^aChange your ways and your behavior, and I will let you live in this place. 4 ^aDo not trust in the deceptive and lying words of the false prophets who claim that Jerusalem will be protected by God because of the temple, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ 5 For ^aif you thoroughly change your ways and your behavior, if you thoroughly and honestly ^bpractice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the transient and the foreigner, the ^aorphan, or the widow, and do not shed ^binnocent blood by oppression and by unjust judicial murders in Jerusalem, nor ^cfollow after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you ^alive in this place, in the ^bland that I gave to your fathers to live in forever and ever.

8 “Behold, you are trusting in ^adeceptive and useless words that bring no benefit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear oaths falsely, ^aoffer sacrifices or burn incense to Baal, and follow after ^bother gods that you have not known, 10 and then dare to ^acome and stand before Me in ^bthis house, which is called by My ¹Name, and say, ‘We are protected and set free by this act of religious ritual!’—only to go on with this wickedness and these disgusting and loathsome things? 11 Has ^athis house, which is called by My Name, become a ^bden of robbers in your eyes a place of retreat for you between acts of violence? Behold, ^cI Myself have seen it,” says the LORD.

12 “But go now to My place which was in ^aShiloh in Ephraim, where I first ^bset My Name, and ^csee what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 1+@Sam 4:10-18 13 And now, because you have done all these things,” says the LORD, “and I ^aspoke persistently to you, even ^brising up early and speaking, but you did not listen, and ^cI called you but you did not answer, 14 therefore, I will do to this ^ahouse (the temple) which is called by My Name, ^bin which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^cdid to Shiloh. 15 I will ^acast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers (relatives through Jacob) , all the descendants of ^bEphraim.

16 “Therefore, ^ado not pray for this people of Judah or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the ¹queen of heaven; and they ^apour out drink offerings to other gods that they may ^boffend and provoke Me to anger. 19 Do ^athey offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the LORD. “Is it not themselves they offend, to their own ^bshame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My ^aanger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the ^btrees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and the fire will not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your ^aburnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^beat the meat. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not ^aspeak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I did command them: ‘^aListen to and obey My voice, and ^bI will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may ^cbe well with you.’ 24 But they ^adid not obey Me or bend their ear to hear Me, but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their own evil heart (mind) , and they turned and ^bwent backward instead of forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently ^asent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early and late. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear to hear Me, but ^astiffened their neck; they ^bdid more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

27 “^aYou shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall also call to them, but they will ^bnot answer you. 28 You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^adid not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction and warning; ^btruth and faithfulness have perished and have completely vanished from their mouths.

30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the LORD; “they have ^aset their disgusting and shamefully vile things in the house which is called by My Name, to defile it. 31 They have ^abuilt the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom) , to ^bburn their sons and their daughters in the fire to honor Molech, the fire god—which I ^cdid not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind) . Lev 18:21; Josh 15:8; 2+@Kin 16:2, 3; 21:1, 6; Is 30:33

32 “^aTherefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, for in bloody warfare they will ^bbury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Jer 19:6 33 And the ^adead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to ^avanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the ^bland will become a ruin—a wasteland.