Jeremiah 7:16

The Message

“And you, Jeremiah, don’t waste your time praying for this people. Don’t offer to make petitions or intercessions. Don’t bother me with them. I’m not listening. Can’t you see what they’re doing in all the villages of Judah and in the Jerusalem streets? Why, they’ve got the children gathering wood while the fathers build fires and the mothers make bread to be offered to ‘the Queen of Heaven’! And as if that weren’t bad enough, they go around pouring out libations to any other gods they come across, just to hurt me.

Cross References

2 Samuel 8:18

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; And David’s sons were priests.

Jeremiah 11:14

“And as for you, Jeremiah, I don’t want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I’m not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers.”

Jeremiah 15:1

Then God said to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell them God says, “‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die; if assigned to war, go and get killed; If assigned to starve, go starve; if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’

Jeremiah 15:6

“You left me, remember?” God’s Decree. “You turned your back and walked out. So I will grab you and hit you hard. I’m tired of letting you off the hook. I threw you to the four winds and let the winds scatter you like leaves. I made sure you’ll lose everything, since nothing makes you change. I created more widows among you than grains of sand on the ocean beaches. At noon mothers will get the news of their sons killed in action. Sudden anguish for the mothers— all those terrible deaths. A mother of seven falls to the ground, gasping for breath, Robbed of her children in their prime. Her sun sets at high noon! Then I’ll round up any of you that are left alive and see that you’re killed by your enemies.” God’s Decree.

Micah 3:4

The time’s coming, though, when these same leaders will cry out for help to God, but he won’t listen. He’ll turn his face the other way because of their history of evil. * * *

1 John 5:16

For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I’m not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is “fatal,” leading to eternal death), we ask for God’s help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I’m not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.