--- title: "The Temple Sermon (Part 3)" description: "Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror. The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who" image: "" book: "Jeremiah" bookId: "JER" testament: "old" startChapter: 8 startVerse: 14 endChapter: 10 endVerse: 25 coversChapters: [8,9,10] aiTitle: "The Temple Sermon (Part 3)" aiDescription: "Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror. The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who" hasAiStory: true location: "Jerusalem" persons: ["Ammon","Edom","God","Moab"] hashtags: ["idolatry","judgment","prophetic","suffering","truth"] genre: "prophecy" readingTime: 8 type: "adaptive" slug: "JER/the-temple-sermon-part-3" canonicalId: "JER.8.14-10.25" chronologicalOrder: 1041 relatedSlugs: ["JER/judgment-is-coming-part-1","JER/drought-famine-sword-and-plague","JER/judgment-on-egypt","GEN/joseph-sold-into-egypt"] prevSlug: "JER/the-temple-sermon-part-2" nextSlug: "JER/the-broken-covenant" --- ### The People Respond Why are we just sitting here?Gather together,let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there,for the [LORD](/persons/god) our God has doomed us.He has given us poisoned water to drink,because we have sinned against the LORD. We hoped for peace,but no good has come,for a time of healing,but there was only terror. The snorting of enemy horsesis heard from Dan.At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,the whole land quakes.They come to devour the land and everything in it,the city and all who dwell in it. “For behold, I will send snakes among you,vipers that cannot be charmed,and they will bite you,”
declares the LORD. ### Jeremiah Weeps for His People My sorrow is beyond healing;my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of the daughter of my peoplefrom a land far away:“Is the LORD no longer in Zion?Is her King no longer there?”“Why have they provoked Me to angerwith their carved images,with their worthless foreign idols?” “The harvest has passed, the summer has ended,but we have not been saved.” For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed.I mourn; horror has gripped me. Is there no balm in Gilead?Is no physician there?Why then has the health of the daughter of my peoplenot been restored? ### A Lament over Zion Oh, that my head were a spring of water,and my eyes a fountain of tears!I would weep day and nightover the slain daughter of my people. If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness,I would abandon my people and depart from them,for they are all adulterers,a crowd of faithless people. “They bend their tongues like bows;lies prevail over truth in the land.For they proceed from evil to evil,and they do not take Me into account,”
declares the LORD. “Let everyone guard against his neighbor;do not trust any brother,for every brother deals craftily,and every friend spreads slander. Each one betrays his friend;no one tells the truth.They have taught their tongues to lie;they wear themselves out committing iniquity. You dwell in the midst of deception;in their deceit they refuse to know Me,”
declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Behold, I will refine them and test them,for what else can I dobecause of the daughter of My people? Their tongues are deadly arrows;they speak deception.With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor,but in his heart he sets a trap for him. Should I not punish them for these things?declares the LORD.Should I not avenge Myselfon such a nation as this?” I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,a dirge over the wilderness pasture,for they have been scorched so no one passes through,and the lowing of cattle is not heard.Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled;they have gone away. “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,a haunt for jackals;and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,without inhabitant.” Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it? And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.” This is what the LORD of Hosts says:“Take note, and summon the wailing women;send for the most skillful among them. Let them come quicklyand take up a lament over us,that our eyes may overflow with tears,and our eyelids may gush with water. For the sound of wailingis heard from Zion:‘How devastated we are!How great is our shame!For we have abandoned the landbecause our dwellings have been torn down.’” Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD.Open your ears to the word of His mouth.Teach your daughters to wail,and one another to lament. For death has climbed in through our windows;it has entered our fortressesto cut off the children from the streets,the young men from the town squares. Declare that this is what the LORD says:“The corpses of men will fall like dungupon the open field,like newly cut grain behind the reaper,with no one to gather it.” This is what the LORD says:“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,nor the strong man in his strength,nor the wealthy man in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this,that he understands and knows Me,that I am the LORD,who exercises loving devotion,justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,”
declares the LORD. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised: Egypt, Judah, [Edom](/persons/edom), [Ammon](/persons/ammon), [Moab](/persons/moab), and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” ### The Sovereignty of God Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says:“Do not learn the ways of the nationsor be terrified by the signs in the heavens,though the nations themselves are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless;they cut down a tree from the forest;it is shaped with a chiselby the hands of a craftsman. They adorn it with silver and goldand fasten it with hammer and nails,so that it will not totter. Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,their idols cannot speak.They must be carriedbecause they cannot walk.Do not fear them, for they can do no harm,and neither can they do any good.” There is none like You, O LORD.You are great, and Your name is mighty in power. Who would not fear You, O King of nations?This is Your due.For among all the wise men of the nations,and in all their kingdoms,there is none like You. But they are altogether senseless and foolish,instructed by worthless idols made of wood! Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish,and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsmanfrom the hands of a goldsmith.Their clothes are blue and purple,all fashioned by skilled workers. But the LORD is the true God;He is the living God and eternal King.The earth quakes at His wrath,and the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.” The LORD made the earth by His power;He established the world by His wisdomand stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders,the waters in the heavens roar;He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses. Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge;every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.For his molten images are a fraud,and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work to be mocked.In the time of their punishment they will perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like these,for He is the Maker of all things,and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name. ### The Coming Captivity of Judah Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege. For this is what the LORD says:“Behold, at this time I will sling outthe inhabitants of the landand bring distress upon themso that they may be captured.” Woe to me because of my brokenness;my wound is grievous!But I said, “This is truly my sickness,and I must bear it.” My tent is destroyed,and all its ropes are snapped.My sons have departed from meand are no more.I have no one left to pitch my tentor set up my curtains. For the shepherds have become senseless;they do not seek the LORD.Therefore they have not prospered,and all their flock is scattered. Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north.The cities of Judah will be made a desolation,a haunt for jackals. I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own;no one who walks directs his own steps. Correct me, O LORD,but only with justice—not in Your anger,or You will bring me to nothing. Pour out Your wrath on the nationsthat do not acknowledge You,and on the familiesthat do not call on Your name.For they have devoured Jacob;they have consumed him and finished him off;they have devastated his homeland.

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