Jeremiah 7:9
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Study Note
Study Note
Jeremiah's indictment lists violations of the Decalogue's social commandments (stealing, murder, adultery, false swearing) alongside explicit polytheism (burning incense to Baal, following other gods), yoking Sinai's moral and cultic stipulations together as a unified covenantal package. The verb forms suggest habitual action rather than isolated transgression, depicting Judah's corruption as systemic social-religious breakdown rather than episodic failure. The following verse's rhetorical question — 'and come and stand before me in this house?' — makes the Temple the site of cognitive dissonance: the same community that violates covenant uses the Temple as a 'den of robbers' (Jeremiah 7:11), a phrase Jesus directly cites in his own Temple action (Mark 11:17). The passage is thus the explicit source text for Jesus' most dramatic prophetic sign-act.
Other Translations
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known,
Stealing, murdering, and committing adultery, And swearing to falsehood, and giving perfume to Baal, And going after other gods whom ye knew not.
Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;
Cross References
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked …
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither …
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and …
Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a …
For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the …
For the Lord of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of …
This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after …
And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with …
Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, …