Jeremiah 7:16-34
Stand Your Post (Series On Jeremiah)
They Destroy Themselves (7:16–31)
God’s command. (7:16) God instructs Jeremiah to stop praying for the people.
Jeremiah 7:17-19
Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. 19 But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
They worship false gods and damage themselves.
They make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven and give drink offerings to other gods.
Jeremiah 7:20
“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land-and it will burn and not be quenched.
They experience God’s wrath and are consumed.
They are like the people God led out of Egypt. (7:21–26) God continues to send prophets, but no one listens.
They do not respond to truth. (7:27–29) The truth is no longer heard on their lips.
Jeremiah 7:30-31
“‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
They sin right before God’s eyes. They set up idols in God’s own Temple. They sacrifice their own children. When we deny truth, killing what we love makes sense.
Jeremiah 7:32-34
So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33 Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 34 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
Spiritually dark choices have extreme consequences.