The Skeptics Annotated Bible (572 page)

22
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country
, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear;
they are cruel, and have no mercy
; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

(6.22-23)
“Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country … they are cruel, and have no mercy.”
God will send soldiers from the north that will kill everyone and have no mercy.

24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

7
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

6 If ye
oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood
in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

(7.6)
“Oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood.”

7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

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 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto 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, even the whole seed of Ephraim.

16 Therefore
pray not thou for this people
, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me:
for I will not hear thee
.

(7.16)
“Pray not thou for this people … for I will not hear thee.”
319 Should you pray for everyone?

17 Seest thou not 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 their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger
.

(7.18)
“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
God is angered by children who gather wood, fathers who make fires, and women that make bread for the “queen of heaven” (the Blessed Virgin Mary?) and other gods.

19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold,
mine 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
.

(7.20)
“Mine 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.”
God will pour out his anger on both man and beast. Not even the trees will be spared from his wrath. And the ground itself will burn forever.