Jeremiah 7:10-11

7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! ²  7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ³  is to be a hideout for robbers? ⁴  You had better take note! ⁵  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:14

7:14 So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ⁶  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ⁷  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 7:30

7:30 The Lord says, “I have rejected them because ⁹  the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. ¹⁰  They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple ¹¹  which I have claimed for my own ¹²  and have defiled it.

[7:10]  ¹ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:10]  ² tn Or “‘We are safe!’ – safe, you think, to go on doing all those hateful things.” Verses 9-10 are all one long sentence in the Hebrew text. It has been broken up for English stylistic reasons. Somewhat literally it reads “Will you steal…then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe’ so as to/in order to do…” The Hebrew of v. 9 has a series of infinitives which emphasize the bare action of the verb without the idea of time or agent. The effect is to place a kind of staccato like emphasis on the multitude of their sins all of which are violations of one of the Ten Commandments. The final clause in v. 8 expresses purpose or result (probably result) through another infinitive. This long sentence is introduced by a marker (ה interrogative in Hebrew) introducing a rhetorical question in which God expresses his incredulity that they could do these sins, come into the temple and claim the safety of his protection, and then go right back out and commit the same sins. J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 52) catches the force nicely: “What? You think you can steal, murder…and then come and stand…and say, ‘We are safe…’ just so that you can go right on…”

[7:11]  ³ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 25, 26).

[7:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will do to this house which I…in which you put…and to this place which…as I did to Shiloh.”

[7:30]  ⁹ tn The words “I have rejected them” are not in the Hebrew text, which merely says “because.” These words are supplied in the translation to show more clearly the connection to the preceding.

[7:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “have done the evil in my eyes.”

[7:30]  ¹¹ sn Compare, e.g., 2 Kgs 21:3, 5, 7; 23:4, 6; Ezek 8:3, 5, 10-12, 16. Manasseh had desecrated the temple by building altars, cult symbols, and idols in it. Josiah had purged the temple of these pagan elements. But it is obvious from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel that they had been replaced shortly after Josiah’s death. They were a primary cause of Judah’s guilt and punishment (see beside this passage, 19:5; 32:34-35).

[7:30]  ¹² tn Heb “the house which is called by my name.” Cf. 7:10, 11, 14 and see the translator’s note 7:10 for the explanation for this rendering.