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.
聖殿講道
1耶和華對耶利米說： 2「你站在耶和華殿的門口這樣宣告，『從這些門進殿敬拜耶和華的猶大人啊，你們要聽耶和華的話。 3以色列的上帝——萬軍之耶和華說，你們改過自新，我便讓你們在這裡安居。 4你們不要相信那些謊言，說這是耶和華的殿，這是耶和華的殿，這是耶和華的殿。
5「『如果你們真正改過自新，彼此公平相待， 6不欺壓異鄉人和孤兒寡婦，不在這地方濫殺無辜，不拜其他神明自取毀滅， 7我便讓你們在這塊我永遠賜給你們祖先的土地上安居。
8「『然而，你們竟相信那些空洞的謊言。 9你們偷盜、謀殺、通姦、起假誓、向巴力獻祭、拜素不認識的神明， 10然後來到這用來敬拜我的殿，站在我面前說自己安全了，以為可以繼續做可憎之事。 11難道這用來敬拜我的殿在你們眼中竟成了賊窩？這些事，我都看在眼裡。這是耶和華說的。
12「『你們去我曾選為我名所在之地的示羅，看看我是怎樣因我以色列子民的罪而懲罰那地方的。 13我對你們的所作所為一再提出警告，你們卻充耳不聞；我呼喚你們，你們卻不回應。這是耶和華說的。 14因此，我要像對付示羅一樣對付你們所倚靠的這用來敬拜我的殿，對付我賜給你們和你們祖先的土地。 15我要把你們從我面前趕走，好像從前趕走你們的弟兄以法蓮7·15 「以法蓮」此處指「北國以色列」。人一樣。』」
16耶和華說：「耶利米啊，不要為這些百姓禱告，不要替他們哀求，不要為他們向我祈求，因為我必不聽。 17你沒有看見他們在猶大各城和耶路撒冷街道上所做的事嗎？ 18孩子拾柴，父親點火，婦人揉麵做餅向天后獻祭，向別的神明奠酒，惹我發怒。 19耶和華說，『難道他們是在惹我發怒嗎？難道他們不是自害己身，自取羞辱嗎？』 20主耶和華說，『我要向這地方的人、牲畜、田野的樹木和地裡的出產發怒，發烈怒，如無法熄滅的火。』」
21以色列的上帝——萬軍之耶和華說：「你們把平安祭連同燔祭都拿去吃吧！ 22因為我把你們祖先帶出埃及的時候，並沒有吩咐他們獻燔祭或其他祭物， 23只吩咐他們，『你們要聽從我的話，我就做你們的上帝，你們做我的子民；你們遵行我的吩咐，就必蒙福。』 24他們卻掩耳不聽，一意孤行，任意行惡，越來越壞。 25從你們的祖先離開埃及那天起，一直到今天，我日復一日地差遣我的僕人——眾先知到你們那裡， 26但你們掩耳不聽，頑固不化，比你們的祖先更邪惡。 27耶利米啊，你將這番話告訴他們，他們也不會聽；你向他們呼籲，他們也不會回應。 28你要對他們說，『你們這些國民不聽你們上帝耶和華的話，不肯受管教，口中毫無真理。
29『你們要剪掉頭髮，
在光禿的山上哀哭，
因為耶和華已棄絕這惹祂發怒的百姓。』」
30耶和華說：「猶大人做了我視為邪惡的事，把可憎的偶像放在用來敬拜我的聖殿中，玷污了聖殿。 31他們在欣嫩子谷的陀斐特建造邱壇，焚燒自己的兒女。我從未吩咐他們這樣做，連想都沒想過。這不是我的吩咐，我也從未這樣想過。 32因此，看啊，時候將到，那地方必不再叫陀斐特或欣嫩子谷，而要叫殺戮谷。那裡要埋葬死人，直到無處可埋。這是耶和華說的。 33飛鳥和走獸必吃這百姓的屍體，無人驅趕牠們。 34我要使猶大各城和耶路撒冷街上的歡樂聲、新郎和新娘的歡笑聲全部消失，因為大地必荒涼。」
