ዋጋ ቢስ አምልኮ
1ከእግዚአብሔር ወደ ኤርምያስ የመጣው ቃል ይህ ነው፤ 2“በእግዚአብሔር ቤት በር ቁም፤ በዚያም ይህን መልእክት ዐውጅ፤
“እግዚአብሔርን ለማምለክ በእነዚህ በሮች የምትገቡ የይሁዳ ሕዝብ ሁላችሁ፣ የእግዚአብሔርን ቃል ስሙ። 3የእስራኤል አምላክ፣ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘መንገዳችሁንና ሥራችሁን አስተካክሉ፤ እኔም በዚህ ስፍራ እንድትኖሩ አደርጋችኋለሁ።’ 4ይህ ‘የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ፣ የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ፣ የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ’ ነው እያላችሁ በሐሰት ቃል አትታመኑ። 5መንገዳችሁንና ሥራችሁን በርግጥ ብታሳምሩ፣ በመካከላችሁ ቅንነት ቢኖር፣ 6መጻተኛውንና ድኻ አደጉን፣ መበለቲቱንም ባትጨቍኑ፣ በዚህም ስፍራ ንጹሕ ደም ባታፈስሱ፣ የሚጐዷችሁን ሌሎች አማልክት ባትከተሉ፣ 7ለአባቶቻችሁ ለዘላለም ርስት አድርጌ በሰጠኋቸው ምድር፣ በዚህ ስፍራ አኖራችኋለሁ። 8እናንተ ግን፣ ከንቱ በሆኑ የሐሰት ቃላት ታምናችኋል።
9“ ‘ትሰርቃላችሁ፤ ሰው ትገድላላችሁ፤ ታመነዝራላችሁ፤ በሐሰት ትምላላችሁ፤7፥9 ወይም በሐሰተኛ አማልክት ትሞላላችሁ ለበኣል ታጥናላችሁ፤ የማታውቋቸውንም ሌሎች አማልክት ትከተላላችሁ፤ 10ስሜ ወደሚጠራበት ወደዚህ ቤት መጥታችሁ በፊቴ ትቆሙና “ደኅና ነን” እያላችሁ እነዚህን አስጸያፊ ነገሮች ታደርጋላችሁ። 11ስሜ የሚጠራበት፣ ይህ ቤት በእናንተ ዘንድ የወንበዴዎች ዋሻ ሆኗልን? እነሆ፤ የምታደርጉትን ነገር አይቻለሁ ይላል እግዚአብሔር።
12“ ‘እንግዲህ ቀድሞ የስሜ ማደሪያ አድርጌው ወደ ነበረው ስፍራ ወደ ሴሎ ሂዱ፤ ከሕዝቤ ከእስራኤል ክፋት የተነሣ ያደረግሁበትንም እዩ። 13እነዚህን ሁሉ ስታደርጉ፣ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ ደጋግሜ ተናገርኋችሁ፤ እናንተ ግን አላደመጣችሁኝም፤ ጠራኋችሁ፤ እናንተ ግን አልመለሳችሁም። 14ስለዚህ በሴሎ እንዳደረግሁ አሁንም ስሜ በተጠራበት ቦታ፣ በታመናችሁበት ቤተ መቅደስ፣ ለአባቶቻችሁና ለእናንተ በሰጠሁት በዚህ ስፍራ እንዲሁ አደርጋለሁ። 15ወንድሞቻችሁ የሆኑትን፣ የኤፍሬምን ሁሉ ሕዝብ እንዳስወገድሁ፣ እናንተንም ከፊቴ እጥላችኋለሁ።’
16“እንግዲህ ስለማልሰማህ፣ ለዚህ ሕዝብ አትጸልይ፤ ልመና አታቅርብ፤ አትማጠን፤ አትማልድላቸውም። 17እነርሱ በይሁዳ ከተሞችና በኢየሩሳሌም መንገዶች ላይ የሚያደርጉትን አታይምን? 18ለሰማይዋ ንግሥት ቂጣ ሊጋግሩ፣ ልጆች ዕንጨት ይለቅማሉ፤ አባቶች እሳት ያቀጣጥላሉ፤ ሴቶችም ሊጥ ያቦካሉ፤ ሊያስቈጡኝም ለሌሎች አማልክት የመጠጥ ቍርባን ያቀርባሉ። 19ለመሆኑ ይህን የሚያደርጉት እኔን ለማስቈጣት ነውን? ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ ይልቁን ይህን በማድረጋቸው በሚደርስባቸው ዕፍረት የሚጐዱት ራሳቸውን አይደለምን?
20“ ‘ስለዚህ ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ “ቍጣዬና መዓቴ በዚህ ስፍራ በሰውና በእንስሳ ላይ፣ በዱር ዛፍና በምድር ፍሬ ላይ ይፈስሳል፤ ይነድዳል፤ አይጠፋምም።”
21“ ‘የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕታችሁን በሌሎች መሥዋዕታችሁ ላይ ጨምሩ፤ ሥጋውንም ራሳችሁ ብሉ። 22የቀድሞ አባቶቻችሁን ከግብፅ ባወጣኋቸው ጊዜ፣ ስለ መሥዋዕቶችና ስለሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት አልተናገርኋቸውም፤ ትእዛዝም አልሰጠኋቸውም። 23ነገር ግን ድምፄን ስሙ፤ እኔም አምላክ እሆናችኋለሁ፤ እናንተም ሕዝቤ ትሆናላችሁ፤ መልካም እንዲሆንላችሁም፣ ባዘዝዃችሁ መንገድ ሁሉ ሂዱ ብዬ አዘዝኋቸው። 24እነርሱ ግን አልሰሙም፤ ልብ ብለው ለማድመጥም አልፈለጉም፤ ይልቁን የክፉ ልባቸውን ሐሳብ በእልኸኝነት ተከተሉ፤ ወደ ፊት በመሄድ ፈንታም ወደ ኋላቸው ተመለሱ። 25አባቶቻችሁ ከግብፅ ምድር ከወጡበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ እስካሁን ድረስ፣ በየቀኑ ሳላሠልስ አገልጋዮቼን ነቢያትን ላክሁባቸው። 26ሕዝቡ ግን አልሰማኝም፤ ልብ ብሎ ለማድመጥም አልፈለገም፤ ዐንገታቸውን አደነደኑ፤ አባቶቻቸው ከሠሩት የባሰም ክፉ አደረጉ።’
27“ይህን ሁሉ ትነግራቸዋለህ፤ እነርሱ ግን አይሰሙህም፤ ትጠራቸውማለህ፤ አይመልሱልህም። 28ስለዚህ እንዲህ በላቸው፤ ‘ይህ ሕዝብ አምላኩን እግዚአብሔርን ያልታዘዘ፣ ምክሩን ያልተቀበለ ወገን ነው፤ እውነት ጠፍቷል፤ ከአንደበታቸውም ሸሽቷል። 29እግዚአብሔር ቍጣው የወረደበትን ይህን ትውልድ ስለ ናቀውና ስለ ተወው፣ ጠጕርሽን ቈርጠሽ ጣዪ፤ በባድሞቹ ኰረብቶች ላይ ሆነሽም ሙሾ አውጪ።
የዕርድ ሸለቆ
30“ ‘የይሁዳ ሕዝብ በፊቴ ክፉ ነገር አድርጓል፤ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ አስጸያፊ ነገራቸውን ስሜ በተጠራበት ቤት በማስቀመጥ አርክሰውታል። 31እኔ ያላዘዝኋቸውን፣ ከቶም ያላሰብሁትን ወንዶችና ሴቶች ልጆቻቸውን በእሳት አቃጥለው ለመሠዋት በሄኖም ልጅ ሸለቆ የቶፌትን መስገጃ ኰረብቶች ሠሩ። 32ስለዚህ አስተውሉ፤ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ ስፍራ እስከማይገኝ ድረስ ሙታንን በቶፌት ስለሚቀብሩ፣ የዕርድ ሸለቆ እንጂ ከእንግዲህ ቶፌት ወይም የሄኖም ልጅ ሸለቆ ተብሎ የማይጠራበት ጊዜ ይመጣል። 33የዚህም ሕዝብ ሬሳ ለሰማይ ወፎችና ለምድር አራዊት ሲሳይ ይሆናል፤ የሚያባርራቸውም አይኖርም። 34የደስታና የተድላን ድምፅ፣ የሙሽራና የሙሽራዪቱን ድምፅ ከይሁዳ ከተሞችና ከኢየሩሳሌም መንገዶች አጠፋለሁ፤ ምድሪቱ ባድማ ትሆናለችና።
Worshiping Other Gods Is Worthless
1A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, 2“Stand at the gate of my house. Announce my message to the people there. Say,
“ ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, all you people of Judah. You always come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3The God of Israel is speaking to you. He is the Lord who rules over all. He says, “Change the way you live and act. Then I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in lies. Do not say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord! This is the temple of the Lord! This is the temple of the Lord!’ 5You must really change the way you live and act. Treat one another fairly. 6Do not treat outsiders or widows badly in this place. Do not take advantage of children whose fathers have died. Do not kill those who are not guilty of doing anything wrong. Do not worship other gods. That will only bring harm to you. 7If you obey me, I will let you live in this place. It is the land I gave your people of long ago. It was promised to them for ever and ever. 8But look! You are trusting in worthless lies.
9“ ‘ “You continue to steal and commit murder. You commit adultery. You tell lies in court. You burn incense to Baal. You worship other gods you didn’t know before. 10Then you come and stand in front of me. You keep coming to this house where I have put my Name. You say, ‘We are safe.’ You think you are safe when you do so many things I hate. 11My Name is in this house. But you have made it a den for robbers! I have been watching you!” announces the Lord.
12“ ‘ “Go now to the town of Shiloh. Go to the place where I first made a home for my Name. See what I did to it because of the evil things my people Israel were doing. 13I spoke to you again and again,” announces the Lord. “I warned you while you were doing all these things. But you did not listen. I called out to you. But you did not answer. 14So what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house where my Name is. It is the temple you trust in. It is the place I gave to you and your people of long ago. 15But I will throw you out of my land. That is exactly what I did to the people of Ephraim. And they are your relatives.” ’
16“Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not make any appeal or request for them. Do not beg me. I will not listen to you. 17Don’t you see what they are doing? They are worshiping other gods in the towns of Judah. They are offering sacrifices to them in the streets of Jerusalem. 18The children go out and gather wood. The fathers light the fire. The women mix the dough. They make flat cakes of bread to offer to the female god called the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods. That makes me very angry. 19But am I the one they are hurting?” announces the Lord. “Aren’t they only harming themselves? They should be ashamed of it.”
20So the Lord and King says, “I will pour out my burning anger on this place. It will strike people and animals alike. It will destroy the trees in the fields and the crops in your land. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out.”
21The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “Go ahead! Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices. Eat the meat yourselves! 22When I brought your people out of Egypt, I spoke to them. But I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23I also gave them another command. I said, ‘Obey me. Then I will be your God. And you will be my people. Live the way I command you to live. Then things will go well with you.’ 24But they did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. Instead, they did what their stubborn and evil hearts wanted them to do. They went backward and not forward. 25Again and again I sent my servants the prophets to you. They came to you day after day. They prophesied from the time your people left Egypt until now. 26But your people of long ago did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. They were stubborn. They did more evil things than their people who lived before them.
27“Jeremiah, when you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not answer. 28So say to them, ‘You are a nation that has not obeyed the Lord your God. You did not pay attention when you were corrected. Truth has died out. You do not tell the truth anymore.’ ”
29The Lord says to the people of Jerusalem, “Cut off your hair. Throw it away. Sing a song of sadness on the bare hilltops. I am very angry with you. I have turned my back on you. I have deserted you.
The Valley of Death
30“The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes,” announces the Lord. “They have set up statues of their gods. They have worshiped them in the house where my Name is. They have made my house ‘unclean.’ I hate those statues. 31The people have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. There they worship other gods. And there they sacrifice their children in the fire. That is something I did not command. It did not even enter my mind. 32So watch out!” announces the Lord. “The days are coming when people will not call it Topheth anymore. And they will not call it the Valley of Ben Hinnom either. Instead, they will call it the Valley of Death. They will bury the dead bodies of some people in Topheth. But they will run out of room. 33Then they will not be able to bury the bodies of other people there. So the bodies will become food for birds and wild animals. And no one will scare them away. 34I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness. The voices of brides and grooms will not be heard anymore. There will be no sounds of joy in the towns of Judah. And there will be no joy in the streets of Jerusalem. The land will become a desert.
