1. The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2. Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message there: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord!
3. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds so that I may dwell with you in this place.
4. Do not put your trust in these deceptive words: “The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!”
5. Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor;
6. if you no longer oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow after other gods to your own harm,
7. only then will I let you continue to dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors long ago and forever.
8. But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive words to your own loss!