Jeremiah 7:1-7

1 The Message from God to Jeremiah:
2 "Stand in the gate of God's Temple and preach this Message.
3 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, has this to say to you:
4 Don't for a minute believe the lies being spoken here - "This is God's Temple, God's Temple, God's Temple!"
5 Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors,
6 only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people on this very site and no longer destroying your souls by using this Temple as a front for other gods -
7 only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Temple.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.