Jeremias 7

ARC · Chapter 7/52

1A palavra que foi dita a Jeremias pelo Senhor, dizendo:

2Põe-te á porta da casa do Senhor, e proclama ali esta palavra, e dize: Ouvi a palavra do Senhor, ó todo Judah, os que entraes por estas portas, para adorardes ao Senhor.

3Assim diz o Senhor dos Exercitos, o Deus d'Israel: Melhorae os vossos caminhos e as vossas obras, e vos farei habitar n'este logar.

4Não vos fieis em palavras falsas, dizendo: Templo do Senhor, templo do Senhor, templo do Senhor são estes.

5Mas, se devéras melhorardes os vossos caminhos e as vossas obras, se devéras fizerdes juizo entre um homem e entre o seu companheiro,

6Não opprimirdes o estrangeiro, e orphão, e viuva, nem derramardes sangue innocente n'este logar nem andardes após os deuses alheios para vosso mal,

7Eu vos farei habitar n'este logar, na terra que dei a vossos paes, de seculo em seculo.

8Eis que vós confiaes nas palavras falsas, que não aproveitam para nada.

9Porventura furtareis, e matareis, e adulterareis, e jurareis falsamente, e queimareis incenso a Baal, e andareis após os deuses alheios, a quem não conheceis?

10E então vireis, e vos poreis diante de mim n'esta casa, que se chama pelo meu nome, e direis: Somos entregues para fazermos todas estas abominações.

11É pois esta casa, que se chama pelo meu nome, uma caverna de salteadores aos vossos olhos? eis que tambem eu o vi, diz o Senhor.

12Porque ide agora ao meu logar, que estava em Silo, onde fiz habitar o meu nome ao principio, e vêde o que lhe fiz, por causa da maldade do meu povo Israel.

13Agora, pois, porquanto fazeis todas estas obras, diz o Senhor, e eu vos fallei, madrugando, e fallando, e não ouvistes, e chamei-vos, e não respondestes,

14Farei tambem a esta casa, que se chama pelo meu nome, em que confiaes, e a este logar, que vos dei a vós e a vossos paes, como fiz a Silo.

15E vos lançarei de diante da minha face, como lancei a todos os vossos irmãos, a toda a geração d'Ephraim.

16Tu pois não ores por este povo, nem levantes por elle clamor nem oração, nem me importunes, porque eu não te ouvirei.

17Porventura tu não vês o que andam fazendo nas cidades de Judah, e nas ruas de Jerusalem?

18Os filhos apanham a lenha, e os paes accendem o fogo, e as mulheres amassam a massa, para fazerem bolos á rainha dos céus, e offerecem libações a deuses alheios, para me provocarem á ira.

19Acaso elles a mim me provocam á ira? diz o Senhor, e não antes a si mesmos, para confusão dos seus rostos?

20Portanto assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Eis que a minha ira e o meu furor se derramarão sobre este logar, sobre os homens e sobre as bestas, e sobre as arvores do campo, e sobre os fructos da terra; e accender-se-ha, e não se apagará.

21Assim diz o Senhor dos Exercitos, o Deus d'Israel: Ajuntae os vossos holocaustos aos vossos sacrificios, e comei carne.

22Porque nunca fallei a vossos paes, no dia em que vos tirei da terra do Egypto, nem lhes ordenei coisa alguma ácerca de holocaustos ou sacrificios.

23Porém esta coisa lhes ordenei, dizendo: Dae ouvidos á minha voz, e eu serei o vosso Deus, e vós sereis o meu povo; e andae em todo o caminho que eu vos mandar, para que vos vá bem

24Porém não ouviram, nem inclinaram os seus ouvidos, mas andaram nos seus proprios conselhos, no proposito do seu coração malvado; e tornaram-se para traz, e não para diante.

25Desde o dia em que vossos paes sairam da terra do Egypto, até ao dia de hoje, enviei-vos todos os meus servos, os prophetas, cada dia madrugando e enviando-os;

26Porém não me deram ouvidos, nem inclinaram os seus ouvidos, mas endureceram a sua cerviz, e fizeram peior do que seus paes.

27Fallar-lhes-has pois todas estas palavras, mas não te darão ouvidos; chamal-os-has, mas não te responderão.

28E lhes dirás: Esta é gente que não dá ouvidos á voz do Senhor seu Deus e não acceita castigo: já pereceu a verdade, e se arrancou da sua bocca.

29Tosquia o cabello da tua cabeça, e lança-o fóra, e levanta o teu pranto sobre as alturas; porque já o Senhor rejeitou e desamparou a geração do seu furor

30Porque os filhos de Judah fizeram o que parece mal aos meus olhos, diz o Senhor; pozeram as suas abominações na casa que se chama pelo meu nome, para contaminal-a.

31E edificaram os altos de Topheth, que está no valle do filho de Hinnom, para queimarem no fogo a seus filhos e a suas filhas; o que nunca ordenei, nem me subiu sobre o coração.

32Portanto, eis que veem dias, diz o Senhor, em que nunca se chamará mais Topheth, nem valle do filho de Hinnom, mas o valle da matança; e enterrarão em Topheth, por não haver logar.

33E os cadaveres d'este povo servirão de pasto ás aves dos céus e aos animaes da terra; e ninguem os espantará.

34E farei cessar das cidades de Judah, e das ruas de Jerusalem, a voz de folguedo, e a voz de alegria, a voz de esposo e a voz de esposa; porque a terra se tornará em desolação.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jeremiah preaches the famous 'temple sermon,' warning that blindly trusting in the sacred building ('the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD') does not save those who practice injustice and idolatry.

Explanation

This is one of the best-known speeches in the book: the people believed that having the temple in Jerusalem automatically protected them, no matter how they lived. Jeremiah reminds them of Shiloh, the ancient Israelite sanctuary that was destroyed (1 Samuel 4) despite also being a sacred place — surface-level religiosity does not prevent judgment. The mention of the 'Valley of Ben-hinnom' (Topheth) refers to a real location south of Jerusalem where child sacrifices were offered to Molech, one of the worst religious corruptions of the period. The central application is timeless: no religious symbol replaces a life of real justice.

Fun facts

  • The Valley of Ben-hinnom, mentioned here, gave rise to the word 'Gehenna,' used in the New Testament as a symbol of hell, precisely because of its horrific history tied to child sacrifice.
  • Shiloh was the site of the tabernacle before the temple was built in Jerusalem, and its archaeological destruction around 1050 BC is confirmed by modern excavations.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremias 7:1Opening formula for a new speech: it introduces the famous ‘temple sermon,’ one of Jeremiah's harshest speeches, preached right at the door of God's house.
  2. Jeremias 7:2God sends Jeremiah to preach right at the entrance of the temple, at the very moment people arrive to worship - the most strategic and most provocative possible spot for this message.
  3. Jeremias 7:3The opening offer is one of hope: if the people truly change their behavior, they can still go on living in the land - staying depends on conduct, not on the temple alone.
  4. Jeremias 7:4The temple of the Lord, repeated three times, was a catchphrase among the people, a kind of amulet: they believed that having the temple in the city protected them automatically, no matter how they lived. Jeremiah comes precisely to tear down that false security.
  5. Jeremias 7:5Spells out what it means to truly change: practicing justice in everyday relationships, not just performing rituals at the temple.
  6. Jeremias 7:6Lists the concrete conditions: protect the most vulnerable, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, do not shed innocent blood, and abandon other gods - social justice and religious faithfulness go hand in hand here.
  7. Jeremias 7:7Repeats the conditional promise: by meeting these requirements, the people would remain forever in the land promised to their ancestors - permanence is not automatic.
  8. Jeremias 7:8Points out the people's mistake: they trust in empty words, likely the idea that the temple protects them automatically, without that actually fixing anything.
  9. Jeremias 7:9Lists sins that directly break the Ten Commandments, theft, murder, adultery, false witness, idolatry, exposing the hypocrisy of those who do all this and still go to the temple.
  10. Jeremias 7:10Describes the absurdity: after all these sins, the people still go to the temple believing they are free to keep sinning, as if their presence there gave them a free pass.
  11. Jeremias 7:11A den of robbers is the phrase Jesus will quote centuries later when driving the moneychangers out of the temple (Matthew 21:13). It shows that Jeremiah's criticism became a classic reference for turning a sacred place into a hideout for wrongdoers who feel protected by it.
  12. Jeremias 7:12Shiloh was where the tabernacle stood before the temple in Jerusalem, and it was destroyed centuries earlier. God uses that example: if that sacred place did not escape, the temple in Jerusalem will not escape either.
  13. Jeremias 7:13God highlights His persistence in warning the people again and again, without stopping - and even so He was ignored, which makes the judgment all the more justified.
  14. Jeremias 7:14Here is the sermon's central threat: the temple in Jerusalem, so beloved and viewed as untouchable, will meet the same destruction that struck Shiloh.
  15. Jeremias 7:15Ephraim is a way of referring to the northern kingdom, Israel, already carried off into exile by Assyria. God warns that Judah will suffer the same fate of being driven from the land.
  16. Jeremias 7:16God even forbids Jeremiah from interceding for the people, something shocking, since intercession was a central role of the prophet - a sign that the judgment decision had already been made.
  17. Jeremias 7:17God draws attention to a specific worship happening publicly, in the streets, detailed in the next verse.
  18. Jeremias 7:18The queen of heaven was likely Ashtoreth or Ishtar, a fertility goddess worshiped with cakes and drink offerings - a popular cult, practiced at home, by the whole family. Jeremiah returns to this same cult later on, in Egypt, in chapter 44.
  19. Jeremias 7:19God makes it clear that the one who loses out from this idolatry is not Him, but the people themselves - God's anger is a response, the real damage is their own self-destruction.
  20. Jeremias 7:20The announced judgment does not affect people alone, but all creation around them, animals, trees, the whole land, and it is described as a fire no one will be able to put out.
  21. Jeremias 7:21An ironic statement: normally only the priest ate part of the burnt offering, but God says, sarcastically, they may as well eat it all, since their sacrifices are worthless anyway.
  22. Jeremias 7:22It is not a literal rejection of sacrifices, which God did in fact institute afterward, but a way of saying that the original priority of the covenant at Sinai was not ritual, but obedience.
  23. Jeremias 7:23The heart of the covenant was always the relationship and obedience - ‘I will be your God, and ye shall be my people’ - not the sacrificial system itself, which only makes sense within that relationship.
  24. Jeremias 7:24Instead of moving forward in the relationship with God, the people went backward, following their own plans and ideas instead of the instruction they received.
  25. Jeremias 7:25God sums up the whole history of Israel as an unbroken sequence of prophets sent to warn the people, from the exodus down to Jeremiah's own present - this rejection is nothing new.
  26. Jeremias 7:26The situation did not improve over time, it got worse: each generation grew harder-hearted than the one before, a process of continuous moral decay.
  27. Jeremias 7:27God already warns Jeremiah that the mission will be frustrating: even after he faithfully says all this, the people will not listen - the prophet must preach knowing the answer will be silence.
  28. Jeremias 7:28Describes a society in which truth has vanished completely from public discourse - it is not just occasional disobedience, it is the total loss of honesty as a value.
  29. Jeremias 7:29Cutting the hair was a gesture of deep mourning in ancient culture. It is a call to mourn openly, because this specific generation has been rejected by God because of its own wickedness.
  30. Jeremias 7:30The gravest accusation: they set up idols inside God's own temple, defiling the nation's most sacred place with objects belonging to other gods.
  31. Jeremias 7:31Topheth, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem, was where children were sacrificed by fire. The text insists this never entered God's heart, making clear it is not a distorted command from God, but an import of foreign worship.
  32. Jeremias 7:32The place where children were sacrificed will be renamed ‘the valley of slaughter,’ because it will become a graveyard so filled with the dead from the invasion that there will be no room left anywhere else.
  33. Jeremias 7:33A shocking image of disgrace: not receiving a proper burial was considered one of the worst possible curses in that culture - the bodies would lie exposed, becoming food for animals.
  34. Jeremias 7:34Even the most joyful everyday sounds, like feasting and weddings, will disappear completely from the cities - a sign that ordinary life will be interrupted by desolation.

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