- For the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
- 27I have made thee a tower and a fortress among My people;
- That thou mayest know and try their way.
- 28They are all grievous revolters,
- Going about with slanders;
- They are brass and iron;
- They all of them deal corruptly.
- 29The bellows blow fiercely,
- The lead is consumed of the fire;
- In vain doth the founder refine,
- For the wicked are not separated.
- 30Refuse silver shall men call them,
- Because the Lord hath rejected them.
7The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. 3Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Trust ye not in lying words, saying: 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.' 5Nay, but if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour; 6if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt; 7then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. 9Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known, 10and come and stand before Me in this house, whereupon My name is called, and say: 'We are delivered', that ye may do all these abominations? 11Is this house, whereupon My name is called, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith the Lord. 12For go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you, speaking betimes and often, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not; 14therefore will I do unto the house, whereupon My name is called, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee. 17Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me. 19Do they provoke Me? saith the Lord; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 20Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit
572
