7:1 This is the book’s first instance in which Yahweh’s word-event comes “to Jeremiah” (v. 1) rather than “to me” (cf. 1:2, 4, 6; 2:1). This difference indicates that what follows is a third-person account of divine speech through Jeremiah rather than a literary collection of oracles to him (as found in chs. 2–6). In chapter 7 the Temple Sermon is parallel to the narrative account in Jeremiah 26, a passage that adds the historical note that the prophet preaches this message in the temple of Jerusalem at the beginning of King Jehoiakim’s reign. Such information sets Jeremiah 7; 26 around 609 BC, shortly after Josiah is abruptly slain in a battle against Egypt (2 Kings 23:29–30), as well as after the troubled three-month reign of his son Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31–33). As the following verses show, the spiritual revival started by Josiah is overturned by a people who revert quickly to pagan ways. The efforts of Josiah succeed only in effecting skin-deep changes; they do not transform Judah’s sinful heart.

7:2–7 The prophet Jeremiah must therefore stand at the threshold of the temple gates and summon the worshipers entering and departing to hear Yahweh’s word (Jer. 7:2). Heartfelt repentance is necessary to remain in the Land of Promise (v. 3), not the superstitious practice of invoking “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” as a formula that somehow guarantees the people’s ability to dwell there (v. 4). The “deceptive words” mentioned in verse 4 refer not only to the threefold formula itself but also to the deceptions spread by false prophets who promise security for Jerusalem without true confession of sin (e.g., 6:11–15; 23:14–15). The people of the city have fallen into the wishful thinking that holiness is a zero-sum game, as if performing rituals at a place of worship could cancel out sins committed away from that place.

The repentance Yahweh demands in verses 5–6 concerns sins of injustice and apostasy committed away from the temple. Against this mistaken people who limit Yahweh’s jurisdiction to a single location, the God of Israel reminds them that he knows everything and everywhere in “this [whole] place” (i.e., the entire land; vv. 6–7), such as injustice toward one another, exploitation of the weak, and pursuit of other gods. The trio “sojourner,” “fatherless,” and “widow” (v. 6) is explicitly protected by Pentateuchal law (e.g., Ex. 22:22; Deut. 24:17–22). Yahweh is the Lord of the poor who fights oppressors much like he delivered helpless Israel from Egypt’s power (Deut. 10:17–19; cf. James 2:5). Only those thus shaped by the exodus were able to conquer and dwell in the land that Yahweh promised (Jer. 7:7).

7:8–15 However, Judah has lost touch with its heritage as an exodus-shaped community. By trusting in the “deceptive words” of false prophets (v. 8; cf. v. 4), this people has rejected Yahweh’s authoritative word as given especially in the Decalogue (v. 9). In this regard the southern kingdom of Judah is repeating the same sins as the northern kingdom of Ephraim a century prior (cf. Hos. 4:2). But, having experienced deliverance from the same Assyrians who sacked Ephraim (2 Kings 18–20), Judah’s spiritual condition has hardened into the temerity that enters Yahweh’s temple and claims “We are delivered!” while then exiting that same temple to continue sinning in the same ways (Jer. 7:10–11). The quotations of the people’s impudent speech in verses 4, 10 indicate their belief that the temple would set the people of Judah on a different historical path from their northern relatives, who, in lacking this temple, were destroyed in 721 BC. History would repeat itself in Jesus’ day when the second temple in Jerusalem was distorted into a talisman against evil and again became a “den of robbers” (7:11; cf. Matt. 21:13//Mark 11:17//Luke 19:46).

Yahweh offers another lesson from history to illustrate that Judah and Ephraim will not fare differently after all. One hundred years before Solomon dedicated Jerusalem’s temple as “the house that is called by [Yahweh’s] name” (Jer. 7:14), the northern tribes had similarly possessed Yahweh’s “place that was in Shiloh, where [he] made [his] name dwell at first” (v. 12). The ark of the covenant stored there did not prevent defeat by the Philistines (cf. 1 Samuel 4–5). What is more, Shiloh itself was destroyed as a preview of what eventually happened to the northern kingdom (Jer. 7:14–15). Yahweh’s commitment to Judah is not unconditional, contrary to the people’s fixation on the temple as an unconditional symbol of security.

7:16–20 Turning now to address his prophet privately, Yahweh commands Jeremiah to cease praying for his people (v. 16). Intercession and speaking of the divine word were the primary responsibilities of prophets who followed in the line of Moses (Deut. 18:15–18).36 Much like Moses and Samuel before him (cf. 1 Sam. 12:23; Ps. 99:6; Jer. 15:1), Jeremiah’s prayers to a compassionate God have been the real protection over the city, contrary to this sinful people’s superstition that the temple serves as their protector (cf. Jer. 7:4, 10). Ironically, though, the success of Jeremiah’s prayers for Jerusalem has increased the people’s audacity in their sins, notably their offerings to other gods (vv. 17–18). The depth of their apostasy is also reflected in their failure to realize that idolatry is sinful not only because Yahweh is offended but also because of the self-inflicted shame that results from worshiping false gods (v. 19). Their corruption has progressed to the point that even selfish motivations are no longer operative (to say nothing of noble ones!). This nation must therefore experience the full force of Yahweh’s wrath (v. 20). Here is another instance in which the book of Jeremiah emphasizes that Judah’s old ways must be destroyed before restoration can occur (e.g., 1:10).

7:21–26 These verses use sarcasm and hyperbole to expose further the cluelessness of Judah. To an oblivious people beyond the reach of normal communication, Yahweh employs an ancient form of reverse psychology to show how their attempts at self-preservation through multiplying sacrifices will lead only to annihilation. Yahweh’s surprising command to sacrifice more rather than less (v. 21; cf. 6:20) removes any obstacles that would keep a sinful nation from pursuing its own futile ways. And as this freely chosen course leads to self-destruction (cf. 7:17–18), it will become evident that Yahweh’s covenant has always been less concerned about offerings (v. 22) than about obedience to his ways (v. 23). The contrast in these verses is therefore a case of rhetorical rather than absolute negation, much like Hosea’s assertion that Yahweh desires “steadfast love more than sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6 AT).

The emotionally charged character of the passage continues in that Judah’s refusal to heed Jeremiah is what Moses and Hosea also experienced. Beginning with the first generation that exited Egypt (Jer. 7:24–25a; cf. Exodus 16), the people of Yahweh have not only rejected the prophets sent to them. Over time, their disobedience has even exceeded that of their ancestors (Jer. 7:25b–26), and so their guilt cannot be denied.

In sum, apostasy has climaxed in the present moment among Jeremiah’s audience at the end of the seventh century BC. This reality grows in significance after the exile, since the remnant that survives deportation to Babylon will begin to use a proverb that blames their ancestors for their troubles: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jer. 31:29; Ezek. 18:2). The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel will respond to this excuse making with the assertion that the current generation has sinned no less, and in fact has sinned more, than their ancestors.

7:27–34 Yahweh directs Jeremiah to address Judah again, but the purpose this time is not to invite repentance but to confirm their judgment. Following Judah’s rejection of his words (Jer. 7:27), the prophet will pronounce Yahweh’s verdict: “This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips” (v. 28). For Yahweh to call Judah a “nation” (Hb. goy) underscores how far they have fallen from their status as Yahweh’s privileged “people” (ʿam). Jeremiah’s audience has not yet experienced the full force of the Babylonian war machine, but the funeral dirge to be sung in verse 29 shows that this people might as well already be dead.

Verses 30–34 portray Judah’s impending death as the ironic outcome of the pagan rituals the people perform. Besides bringing abominations into the temple in Jerusalem (v. 30), they have erected high places for human sacrifice at Topheth, a location in the Hinnom Valley south of Jerusalem (v. 31). Sometime before Josiah became king, Judah had used Topheth as a site for sacrificing a limited number of children (e.g., 2 Kings 23:10). But in Babylon’s impending invasion so many will be slain that Topheth will instead become a burial ground for corpses that have no graves elsewhere (Jer. 7:32). Unburied corpses will become so plentiful that wild animals will eat them freely, while the living will be so few that nobody will be left to shoo away such predators (v. 33). With death and sorrow of this magnitude in it, Jerusalem will cease to be the scene of the joyful rhythms of life (v. 34).