Jeremiah 7:21-29

Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

Obedience over Sacrifice

²¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,^{(A) 22} for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them^(B) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. ²³ However, I did give them this command: “Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.” ^{(C) 24} Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention,^(D) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backwards and not forwards.^{(E) 25} Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets^(F) to you time and time again.^{[a](G) 26} However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;^(H) they did more evil than their ancestors.^(I)

A Lament for Disobedient Judah

²⁷ ‘When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. ²⁸ Therefore, declare to them, “This is the nation that would not listen to the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth^[b] has perished – it has disappeared from their mouths. ²⁹ Cut off the hair of your sacred vow^[c](J) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,^(K) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under his wrath.” ^(L)