Trusting in Lying Words
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,2 "Stand 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 in at these gates to worship the LORD!'"3 Thus says the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:"Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause
you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple
of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'
5 "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbor,6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 then I will cause
you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear
falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,10 and then come and
stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these
abominations'?11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes?
Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the LORD.
12 "But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to
it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,
" says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called
you, but you did not answer,14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My
name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your
fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren -- the whole posterity of
Ephraim.
16 "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession
to Me; for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do 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 dough,
to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they
may provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they
not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?"
20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out
on this place -- on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit
of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched."
21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:"Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat
meat. 22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the
land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying,
'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people.
And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be
well with you.' 24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but
followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went
backward and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you
all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26
Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck.
They did worse than their fathers.
27 "Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call
to them, but they will not answer you.
28 Judgment on obscene Religion
"So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor
receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29 Cut off your hair
and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and
forsaken the generation of His wrath.'
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD."They
have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute
it. 31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of
the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I
did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 "Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or
the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is
no room. 33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the
earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and
from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom
and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.
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Dreams and Visions
Trusting in Lying Words
March 24, 2010
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