Jeremiah 7:3-13

3 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Make ye good your ways, and your studies, and I shall dwell with you in this place. (The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, Make ye good your ways, and your deeds, and I shall live with you in this place.)

4 Do not ye trust in the words of leasing, and say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is (this place!). (Do not ye trust in lies, and then say, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, this is the Temple of the Lord!)

5 For if ye bless your ways, and your studies; if ye do doom betwixt a man and his neighbour; (But if ye mend your ways, and your deeds; if ye do rightly, or justly, between a man and his neighbour;)

6 if ye make not false challenge to a comeling, and to a fatherless child, and to a widow; neither shed out innocent blood in this place, and go not after alien gods, into evil to yourselves, (if ye do not oppress a newcomer, and a fatherless child, and a widow; nor shed out innocent blood in this place, and do not go after strange, or foreign, gods, into evil for yourselves,)

7 I shall dwell with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers, from the world and till into the world. (then I shall live with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.)

8 Lo! ye trust to you in the words of leasing, that shall not profit to you; (Lo! ye trust in the words of lies, that shall not profit you;)

9 to steal, to slay, to do adultery, to swear falsely, to make sacrifice to Baalim, and to go after alien gods, which ye know not. (and ye steal, and kill, and do adultery, and swear falsely, and make sacrifice to Baal, and go after strange, or foreign, gods, which ye know not.)

10 And ye came, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called to help; and ye said, We be delivered, for we have done all these abominations. (And then ye come, and stand before me in this House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name; and ye say, We be safe, even though we have done all these abominations.)

11 Whether therefore this house, wherein my name is called to help before your eyes, is made a den of thieves? I, I am, I saw, saith the Lord. (And so hath this House, where my name is called on for help/which is called by my name, been made a den of thieves in your eyes? Yea, and I myself have seen it, saith the Lord.)

12 Go ye to my place in Shiloh, where my name dwelled at the beginning, and see ye what things I did to it, for the malice of my people Israel.

13 And now, for ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake to you, and rose (up) early, and I spake, and ye heard not (and ye did not listen), and I called you, and ye answered not;

Jeremiah 7:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 7

In this chapter the Lord, by the prophet, calls the people of the Jews to repentance and reformation; reproves them for their vain confidence; and threatens them with destruction for their many sins, and particularly idolatry. The preface to all this is in Jer 7:1,2, the exhortation to amendment, encouraged to by a promise that they should dwell in the land, is in Jer 7:3, but this was not to be expected on account of the temple, and temple service; but through a thorough reformation of manners; an exercise of justice, and avoiding all oppression and idolatry, Jer 7:4-7, their vain confidence in the temple is exposed; they fancying that their standing there, and doing the service of it, would atone for their theft, murder, adultery, perjury, and idolatry; and that they might commit these with impunity; wherefore they are let to know, that so doing these they made the temple a house of thieves; and that for such wickedness, what the Lord had done to his place in Shiloh, which they are reminded of, he would to the temple, and to them, reject and cast them off, Jer 6:8-15, and seeing they also had a dependence on the prophet's prayer, he is bid not to pray for them, for his prayers would not he heard; and he is directed to observe their wretched idolatry, of which an instance is given, whereby they provoked the Lord to anger; and therefore he was determined to pour out his fury on man and beast, and on the trees and fruit of the field, Jer 7:16-20 and whereas they trusted in their burnt offerings and sacrifices, these are rejected, as being what were not originally commanded; but obedience to the moral law, and the precepts of it, which they refused to hearken to, though they were oft called upon to it by his servants the prophets, Jer 7:21-26, and it is foretold that the Prophet Jeremy would meet with the same treatment; that they would not hearken to his words, nor answer to his call; and therefore he should declare them a disobedient, incorrigible, and an unfaithful people, Jer 7:27,28 hence, either he, or Jerusalem, is called upon to cut off the hair, as a sign of mourning; for their rejection of the Lord, occasioned by their sins, and especially their idolatry, of which instances are given, Jer 7:29-31 and it is threatened that the place of their idolatry should be a place of slaughter and of burial, till there should be no room for more; and the carcasses of the rest should be the food of fowls and beasts; and all joy should cease from Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 7:32-34.