Jeremiah 7:3-12

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all¹ says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right.² If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land.³ 7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says,⁴ “We are safe!⁵ The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!”⁶ 7:5 You must change⁷ the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.⁸ 7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands.⁹ Stop killing innocent people¹⁰ in this land. Stop paying allegiance to¹¹ other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.¹² 7:7 If you stop doing these things,¹³ I will allow you to continue to live in this land¹⁴ which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.¹⁵

7:8 “‘But just look at you!¹⁶ You are putting your confidence in a false belief¹⁷ that will not deliver you.¹⁸ 7:9 You steal.¹⁹ You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to²⁰ other gods whom you have not previously known. 7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own²¹ and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!²² 7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own²³ is to be a hideout for robbers?²⁴ You had better take note!²⁵ I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord. 7:12 So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped²⁶ in the early days. See what I did to it²⁷ because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

¹tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

sn Compare the use of similar titles in 2:19; 5:14; 6:6 and see the explanation in the study note at 2:19. In this instance the title appears to emphasize the Lord as the heavenly King who drags his disobedient vassals into court (and threatens them with judgment).

²tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

³tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

⁴tn Heb “Stop trusting in lying words which say.”

⁵tn The words “We are safe!” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶tn Heb “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these (i.e., these buildings).” Elsewhere triple repetition seems to mark a kind of emphasis (cf. Isa 6:3; Jer 22:29; Ezek 21:27 [32 HT]). The triple repetition that follows seems to be Jeremiah’s way of mocking the (false) sense of security that people had in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple. They appeared to be treating the temple as some kind of magical charm. A similar feeling had grown up around the ark in the time of the judges (cf. 1 Sam 3:3) and the temple and city of Jerusalem in Micah’s day (cf. Mic 3:11). It is reflected also in some of the Psalms (cf., e.g., Ps 46, especially v. 5).

⁷tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

⁸tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

⁹tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

¹⁰tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

¹¹tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

¹²tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

¹³tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.

¹⁴tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”

¹⁵tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”

¹⁶tn Heb “Behold!”

¹⁷tn Heb “You are trusting in lying words.” See the similar phrase in v. 4 and the note there.

¹⁸tn Heb “not profit [you].”

¹⁹tn Heb “Will you steal…then say, ‘We are safe’?” Verses 9-10 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text.

²⁰tn Heb “You go/follow after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

²¹tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

²²tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

²³tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

²⁴tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

²⁵tn Heb “Behold!”

²⁶tn Heb “where I caused my name to dwell.” The translation does not adequately represent the theology of the Lord’s deliberate identification with a place where he chose to manifest his presence and desired to be worshiped (cf. Exod 20:25; Deut 16:2, 6, 11).

²⁷sn The place in Shiloh…see what I did to it. This refers to the destruction of Shiloh by the Philistines circa 1050 b.c. (cf. Ps 78:60). The destruction of Shiloh is pertinent to the argument. The presence of the tabernacle and ark of the covenant did not prevent Shiloh from being destroyed when Israel sinned. The people of Israel used the ark as a magic charm but it did not prevent them from being defeated or the ark being captured (1 Sam 4:3, 11, 21-22).