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Jonathan Jeremiah

About this book
Chapter 7

1 The word of prophecy that was with Jeremiah from before the Lord to say: 2 Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and prophesy there this word, and say: Receive the word of the Lord, all of Judah, who enter these gates to worship before the Lord: 3 Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. 5 But if you thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 Do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt: 7 Then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old and forever. 8 Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a house of an assembly of wicked men in your eyes?⁠ Even so, I have seen it, says the Lord. 12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer; 14 Therefore, I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim. 16 Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they provoke Me to anger? says the Lord: Do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 20 Therefore, thus said the Lord God: Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. 21 Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22 For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people: and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. 24 But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: 26 Yet they did not listen to Me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. 27 Therefore, you shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you. 28 But you shall say to them, This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receives correction: truth has perished and is cut off from their mouth. 29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the high places; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. 32 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet until there is no place. 33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Texts in conversation

Compare Jeremiah 7:11 and 2 Clement 14:1 and Jonathan Jeremiah 7:11

Hebrew Bible · Early Christian · Targum

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Summary

Jeremiah describes the temple as a den of robbers, criticizing hypocrisy. The Aramaic translation in the Targum applies this to synagogues, and 2 Clement extends it to Christian groups. Both reshape Jeremiah to address hypocrisy in their communities.

Passages

Jeremiah 7:11

Hebrew Bible
10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! 11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord. 12 So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

2 Clement 14:1

Early Christian
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we do the will of God our Father, we will be part of the first Church, which is spiritual and was created before the sun and the moon. But if we do not do the will of the Lord, we will be as the Scripture says, ‘My house has become a den of robbers.’ So let us choose instead to be part of the Church of life, that we may be saved.
130–160 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Clement

Jonathan Jeremiah 7:11

Targum
10 And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a house of an assembly of wicked men in your eyes? Even so, I have seen it, says the Lord. 12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Jeremiah

References

"... In 2 Clement and the Apostolic Constitutions, Jeremiah’s warnings of judgment are cited to abate impiety in churches (2 Clem. 14:1; Apostolic Constitutions 4.1.6). In Targum Jeremiah 7:11, Jeremiah’s “den of brigands” is applied to a synagogual context: “as a house of an assembly of wicked men”. And in the Talmud and midrashic literature, passages from Jeremiah 7 are cited under the assumption that they point to the destruction of the temple (b. Naz. 32b; Sifre Deuteronomy 342:1; Pesiqta de Rav Kahanna 14:2; Lamentations Rabbah 31:2; 56:1; Zohar 1:55b). In sum, then, those who wished to speak of divine judgment, or to depict their opponents as enemies of God’s covenant, often found this famous sermon near to hand ..."
Tucker S. Ferda, “Jeremiah 7 and Flavius Josephus on the First Jewish War,” JSJ 44.2 (2013): 158–173.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jeremiah 7:11 and 2 Clement 14:1 and Jonathan Jeremiah 7:11

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