Jeremías 7:21-31

21 Esto dice el Señor
de los Ejércitos Celestiales, Dios de Israel: «¡Tomen sus ofrendas quemadas y los demás sacrificios y cómanselos ustedes mismos!

22 Cuando saqué a sus antepasados de Egipto no eran ofrendas quemadas ni sacrificios lo que deseaba de ellos.

23 Esto les dije: “Obedézcanme, y yo seré su Dios, y ustedes serán mi pueblo. ¡Hagan todo lo que les diga y les irá bien!”.

24 »Pero mi pueblo no quiso escucharme. Continuaron haciendo lo que querían, siguiendo los tercos deseos de su malvado corazón. Retrocedieron en vez de ir hacia adelante.

25 Desde el día en que sus antepasados salieron de Egipto hasta ahora, no he dejado de enviarles a mis siervos, los profetas, día tras día;

26 pero mi pueblo no me ha escuchado, ni siquiera ha tratado de oírme. Han sido tercos y pecadores, aún peores que sus antepasados.

27 »Diles todo esto, pero no esperes que te escuchen. Adviérteles a gritos, pero no esperes que te hagan caso.

28 Diles: “Esta es la nación que no obedece al Señor
su Dios y que rechaza ser enseñada. Entre ellos la verdad ha desaparecido; ya no se escucha en sus labios.

29 Rápate en señal de luto y llora a solas en las montañas, porque el Señor
ha rechazado y ha abandonado a esta generación que ha provocado su furia”.

30 El valle de la Matanza
»La gente de Judá ha pecado ante mis propios ojos —dice el Señor
—. Han puesto sus ídolos abominables precisamente en el templo que lleva mi nombre, y así lo han profanado.

31 Han edificado santuarios paganos en Tofet, el basurero en el valle de Ben-hinom, donde queman a sus hijos y a sus hijas en el fuego. Jamás ordené un acto tan horrendo; ¡ni siquiera me pasó por la mente ordenar semejante cosa!

Jeremías 7:21-31 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.