1-3. The Lord sent me to the gate of the Temple where the people of Judah went in to worship. He told me to stand there and announce what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had to say to them: “Change the way you are living and the things you are doing, and I will let you go on living here.
4. Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the Lord's Temple, this is the Lord's Temple, this is the Lord's Temple!’
5. “Change the way you are living and stop doing the things you are doing. Be fair in your treatment of one another.
6. Stop taking advantage of aliens, orphans, and widows. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop worshipping other gods, for that will destroy you.
7. If you change, I will let you go on living here in the land which I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.
8. “Look, you put your trust in deceitful words.
9. You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before.
10. You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, ‘We are safe!’
11. Do you think that my Temple is a hiding place for robbers? I have seen what you are doing.
12. Go to Shiloh, the first place where I chose to be worshipped, and see what I did to it because of the sins of my people Israel.
13. You have committed all these sins, and even though I spoke to you over and over again, you refused to listen. You would not answer when I called you.
14. And so, what I did to Shiloh I will do to this Temple of mine, in which you trust. Here in this place that I gave to your ancestors and to you, I will do the same thing that I did to Shiloh.
15. I will drive you out of my sight as I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
16. The Lord said, “Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry or pray on their behalf; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
17. Don't you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?