If the Temple is destroyed, everyone who passes by will be shocked. They will make fun of you and ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’
Nebuchadnezzar and his army set fire to God’s Temple and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all the palaces. They took or destroyed every valuable thing in Jerusalem.
The houses in Jerusalem and the king’s palaces will become as unclean as this place, Topheth, because the people worshiped gods on the roofs of their houses. They worshiped the stars and burned incense to honor them and gave drink offerings to gods.’ ”
He says, ‘I will build a great palace for myself with large upper rooms.’ So he builds it with large windows and uses cedar wood for the walls, which he paints red.
The Babylonian army is already attacking the city of Jerusalem. They will soon enter it and start a fire to burn down the city and its houses. The people of Jerusalem offered sacrifices to Baal on the roofs of those same houses and poured out drink offerings to other idols to make me angry.
I will give the order, says the Lord, to bring the Babylonian army back to Jerusalem. It will fight against Jerusalem, capture it, set it on fire, and burn it down. I will destroy the towns in Judah so that they become ruins where no one lives!”
“All your wives and children will be brought out and given to the Babylonian army. You yourself will not even escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylon, and Jerusalem will be burned down.”
So I will destroy the place where I have chosen to be worshiped in Jerusalem. You trust in that place, which I gave to you and your ancestors, but I will destroy it just as I destroyed Shiloh.
The Lord was like an enemy; he swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed all her strongholds. He has caused more moaning and groaning for Judah.
He cut down his Temple like a garden; he destroyed the meeting place. The Lord has made Jerusalem forget the set feasts and Sabbath days. He has rejected the king and the priest in his great anger.
The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his Temple. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of Jerusalem’s palaces. Their uproar in the Lord’s Temple was like that of a feast day.
The Lord planned to destroy the wall around Jerusalem. He measured the wall and did not stop himself from destroying it. He made the walls and defenses sad; together they have fallen.
They will burn down your houses and will punish you in front of many women. I will put an end to your sexual sins, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
‘Say to the people of Israel, This is what the Lord God says: I am going to dishonor my Temple. You think it gives you strength. You are proud of it, and you look at it with love and tenderness. But your sons and daughters that you left behind in Jerusalem will fall dead by the sword.
Because of you, Jerusalem will be plowed like a field. The city will become a pile of rocks, and the hill on which the Temple stands will be covered with bushes.
Jesus asked, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. Every stone will be thrown down to the ground.”