Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 232
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
7:4-23
“‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own
land. But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because
the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, “The Lord’s Temple is here! The
Lord’s Temple is here!” But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil
thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you
stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your
murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols.
Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep
forever.
“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the
Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit
adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours,
and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are
safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves
admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves?
Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!
“‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that
bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my
people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the
Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called
out to you, but you refused to answer. So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will
now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust
in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. And I will
send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people
of Israel.’
“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them,
and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. Don’t you see
what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Je
rusalem? No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood
and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough
and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid
offerings to their other idol gods! Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the
Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury
on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the
unquenchable fire of my anger.”
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take
your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves!
When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and
sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I
will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and
all will be well!’
