Evil in the Land
Jer 7:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Jer 7:2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.
Jer 7:3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.
Jer 7:4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
Jer 7:5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,
Jer 7:6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
Jer 7:7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.
Jer 7:8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
Jer 7:9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,
Jer 7:10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?
Jer 7:11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
Jer 7:12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
Jer 7:13 While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.
Jer 7:14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors.
Jer 7:15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’
Jer 7:16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
Jer 7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.
Jer 7:19 But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
Jer 7:20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.
Jer 7:21 “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!
Jer 7:22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
Jer 7:23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.
Jer 7:24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
Jer 7:25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.
Jer 7:26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’
Jer 7:27 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.
Jer 7:28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
Jer 7:29 “‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
The Valley of Slaughter
Jer 7:30 “‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
Jer 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
Jer 7:32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
Jer 7:33 Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
Jer 7:34 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
Jer 7:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
The word that came. This expression, occurring frequently in Jeremiah (chs. 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 25:1; 30:1; 32:1; 34:1; 35:1; 40:1; 44:1), introduces one of the prophet’s most striking prophetic sermons.
The substance of this sermon is recorded for the most part in chs. 7–10. The sermon was given at the gate (ch. 7:2) of the Temple and is often called “the Temple Discourse.” It condemned the false confidence that the Jews had in their Temple and in the externals of religion.
The similarity of ch. 7 to ch. 26 has led some to the conclusion that the latter is a summary of the sermon, designed to describe the results that came to Jeremiah because he delivered the message. If this be so, the sermon was given “in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim” (ch. 26:1; see PK 412–415). It is of course possible that Jeremiah later repeated the essence of this sermon in “the cities of Judah” (ch. 11:6; see PK 414).
Jer 7:2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.
Evidently the gate of the “court of the Lord’s house” (ch. 26:2). Since Jeremiah was a priest, he had full access to the Temple. It is probable that he was standing in one of the gates leading from the outer into the inner or upper court. From such a vantage point he could view the whole assembly of worshipers (see ch. 36:10).
All you people of Judah. It has been suggested that this sermon was given on a national festival, when the Temple was crowded with worshipers.
To worship. The prophet implies that since the people had come to worship God, they should listen to the word that God had for them.
Jer 7:3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Lord of hosts. “Lord [Heb. Yahweh] of hosts” is one of the most majestic and awe-inspiring of all the titles of Deity. The title is common in Jeremiah (see chs. 2:19; 5:14; 7:21; 8:3; 10:16; 11:17, 20; 15:16; etc.). It emphasizes the fact that God has untold forces and powers at His command.
In the OT “host” frequently refers to an army of men (see 2 Chron. 28:9; Jer. 51:3). The commander in chief of an army was designated “captain of the host” (1 Kings 1:19; etc.). Angels are also spoken of as a “host” (see 1 Kings 22:19; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 103:21; 148:2), and the term is applied also to the heavenly bodies (see Deut. 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3, 5; Jer. 8:2; 19:13; etc.). Israel’s God has at His command untold “hosts” of spiritual and material forces. He is Lord of the armies of heaven. He is omnipotent (see Rev. 19:6).
Amend. Literally, “make good,” “rectify,” “correct,” a characteristic expression of Jeremiah (see v. 5; chs. 18:11; 26:13).
Your ways and your doings. A frequent combination of words in Jeremiah (see v. 5; chs. 4:18; 18:11; 26:13; 35:15). “Ways” may be understood as referring to inward inclinations, settled habits or general course of life, and “doings” to the outward fruits or separate deeds that make up these customary habits.
Cause you to dwell. That is, “permit you to continue to dwell.”
Jer 7:4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.’
Evidently the false prophets maintained that God would never allow the Temple, His dwelling place, to fall into profane hands; that the presence of that Temple in Jerusalem would serve as a kind of charm to protect the city and its inhabitants (see on Micah 3:11). Similarly, today many church members trust in external church connections for salvation. They are more ready for outward religious activities than for the inner preparation of the heart.
Temple of the Lord. This phrase, repeated three times, expressed the pride that the people felt in the greatness of the religious institution represented by the Temple. It was a kind of superstitious attachment.
These. The Temple buildings were among the most beautiful structures ever reared. We may imagine the prophet pointing to these buildings as he repeated these words (see Matt. 24:1). But impressive edifices are a poor substitute for genuine heart devotion. Ritual and ceremony of themselves cannot atone for sin. Increase of facilities and numbers should be accompanied by a corresponding increase in fervent piety.
Jer 7:5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor,
If ye thoroughly. A further development of v. 3. No partial or half-hearted reformation would be sufficient. Only thorough repentance followed by a life of strict honesty and integrity in relation to other men could avail to turn aside the threatened judgments.
Jer 7:6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt,
If you do not oppress. True religion enters every phase of life, including social relationships. The essential value and proof of religion is demonstrated by the effects religion produces on conduct (see James 1:27).
Stranger. The classes here listed form a general designation of all the poor and helpless (see Ex. 22:21–24; 23:9; Deut. 10:18; 14:29; 24:17–21; Deut. 27:19).
Do not shed innocent blood. Doubtless including also “judicial murders” in unjust court decisions in addition to cold-blooded murders.
Jer 7:7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
Then. The prophet gives the conclusion of the conditional sentence begun in v. 5. Upon the fulfillment of the conditions given in vs. 5, 6, security and permanency were promised.
Jer 7:8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
Lying words. A reference to the profitless and empty words of the false prophets, which pointed the people to the outward aspects of religious service rather than to a genuine inward experience (see on v. 4).
Jer 7:9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,
Will you steal? The construction of the Hebrew is vivid and emphatic. The thought may be rendered, “What! stealing, murdering, committing adultery?” etc. The prevalence and continuance of these sinful acts are graphically represented.
Not know. Or, “have not known.” On the contrary, God had revealed Himself to the Israelites by the great act of redemption from slavery, the miraculous preservation in the wilderness, the proclamation of His holy law, and subsequent providential acts. The people knew by experience that He was God (see Ex. 20:1, 2).
Jer 7:10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?
Called by my name. See Jer. 7:11, 14, 30; 32:34; 34:15; see on Deut. 12:5.
To do all these abominations. These concluding words are hardly a part of what the people said. They seem rather to be the words of the prophet, who lays bare the secret intentions of these formal worshipers. Because the threatened judgments had not come, the people went on practicing their abominations.
Jer 7:11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.
A den of thieves. The men who served and worshiped at the Temple were wicked men who covered their wickedness with a cloak of piety.
I have seen. The inhabitants of Judah could not hide their evil intentions from God. He was not blinded by all their vain oblations. He had seen all and would punish accordingly (see Ps. 10:11, 13, 14; Isa. 29:15).
Jer 7:12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
Shiloh. A town in the territory of Ephraim whose location is indicated in Judges 21:19. Its central position made it a desirable site for the sanctuary (see Joshua 18:1). Shiloh was the home of the ark for 300 years.
At the end of that period the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines (see 1 Sam. 4:10, 11). Because of Israel’s grievous idolatry God “forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh” (Ps. 78:60). The Philistines captured the ark and presumably at this time destroyed the city (see on 1 Sam. 5:1).
The site of Shiloh, now known as Seilûn, was excavated by a group of Danish archeologists under the leadership of H. Kjaer from 1926 to 1932. They reached the conclusion that the city was occupied in the Middle Bronze Age and again from about the 13th to the 11th century b.c.; that about the beginning of the 11th century it was destroyed by fire; and that apparently the town was little occupied from about 1100 to 300 b.c.
These archeological findings are in harmony with the Biblical data. Although the Bible gives no definite account of the city’s destruction, it does mention the defeat of the Israelites by the Philistines at Ebenezer and Aphek and the capture of the ark (1 Sam. 4:1–11). Probably the city was burned at this time.
What I did to it.
Could the ark in Jerusalem guarantee any greater immunity to that city than it had to Shiloh of old? The fate of Shiloh shows that it is not safe to depend upon mere external worship for salvation. Eli lightly regarded the wicked practices of his sons (see 1 Sam. 2:12–17, 22–25; PP 575–580), and the people depended on the ark, rather than on true heart religion, to bring them the approval of God.
These sins brought upon Shiloh the judgment of God (see 1 Sam. 4:17; Ps. 78:55–64). Jeremiah warns the people that the same chastisement that came upon Shiloh and its sanctuary is about to descend upon Jerusalem and its Temple (Jer. 7:14).
The wickedness. See 1 Sam. 2:12.
Jer 7:13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,
13. Rising up early and speaking.
An idiom meaning to speak earnestly and continuously. The expression is peculiar to Jeremiah, occurring frequently, sometimes with slight variations (see Jer. 7:25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14, 15; 44:4; cf. 2 Chron. 36:15, 16). However, the people of Judah would not listen, no matter how earnestly or unremittingly God spoke to them (see Prov. 1:24; Matt. 23:37).
Jer 7:14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
Shiloh. Jeremiah used the destruction of this city as an object lesson of what was to happen to Jerusalem and its Temple (Jer. 26:9; Micah 3:12).
Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.
Jer 7:15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’
That is, exile you to a foreign land. The land of Canaan was God’s land (see Lev. 25:23; Hosea 9:3), a land of His special care, ever under His watchful eye (see Deut. 11:12). From that sphere of watchful care Judah would now be removed (see Jer. 15:1; 23:39; 32:31; 52:3), even as the northern kingdom of Israel had been carried captive by Assyria (see 2 Kings 17:18–23; 23:27).
Ephraim. A term often used to designate the northern tribes (see Isa. 7:2; Hosea 4:17; 5:9; 12:1; cf. Ps. 78:67, 68). The tribe of Ephraim had been the most numerous and powerful in the north. Also from that tribe Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, had come. Hence the term “Ephraim” came to be applied to the whole kingdom.
Jer 7:16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
Do not pray. Like other prophets of God, Jeremiah was a man of prayer, a man anxious to intercede on behalf of his people (see Jer. 11:14; 18:20; cf. Gen. 18:23–32; Ex. 33:11–14; Num. 14:13–20; 1 Sam. 7:9, 10; 12:17–19, 23; Ps. 106:23). Since the nation refused to reform, nothing could turn aside the doom that was coming.
The chastisement and discipline must be allowed to do its work. Intercessory prayer to avert the threatened judgments would be unavailing (see Jer. 11:14; 14:11, 12; 15:1; cf. Ex. 32:10; 1 John 5:16).
Jer 7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
If Jeremiah wished to know the reasons for the prohibition mentioned in v. 16, he needed but to consider the facts. The shameless apostasy of God’s professed people was open, public, and impudent.
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.
The entire family, including the children, was united in idolatrous worship; hence the sweeping character of the judgment pronounced upon them (see on ch. 6:11).
Cakes. Heb. kawwanim, “sacrificial cakes.” The offering of sacrificial cakes was a characteristic element in several Near Eastern cults. This heathen practice later found its way into Christianity. Epiphanius (Against Heresies lxxviii. 23; lxxix. 1) declared that some women go so far as to “offer cakes in the name and to the honour of the blessed Virgin.”
“Upon certain days they present bread and offer it in the name of Mary. But they all partake of this.” The sacrificial cakes of Jeremiah’s day were a kind of meal offering with which a libation, or drink offering, was combined (see ch. 44:19, 25) as a part of the worship. It is thought that the figure of the goddess may have been stamped upon the cakes.
Jer 7:19 But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
Harming themselves. Although the words in italics were supplied to complete the sense, they diminish the abrupt force of the Hebrew: “Do they provoke me? … Is it not themselves?” The consequences of the people’s own idolatry were to fall on their own heads (see Job 35:6, 8; Prov. 8:36).
Jer 7:20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.
Not be quenched. No human power would be able to extinguish the fires of judgment once they had been kindled (see Jer. 4:4; 15:14; 17:27; 21:12; Lam. 2:3; 4:11; cf. Deut. 32:22).
Jer 7:21 “‘This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!
Burnt offerings. From the Heb. ‘olah, literally, “that which goes up” (see on Gen. 8:20; Lev. 1:3). The entire offering was consumed in the fire of the altar (see Lev. 1:9).
Sacrifices. Heb. zebachim, a general term applied to all oblations in which the flesh of the victim was eaten. The prophet declared that the people of Judah might as well eat the flesh of the burnt offerings as that of the peace offerings, for God would accept neither from them (see Jer. 6:20; Hosea 9:4). Multiplication of sacrifices could not avert the coming judgment.
Jer 7:22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
External observances were designed to aid in preserving sincere obedience (see Deut. 6:1–3), but never to be a substitute for holiness of heart. Of the type of worship rendered to God by Jeremiah’s compatriots, God had never spoken at Sinai.
Jer 7:23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.
I will be your God. See Ex. 6:7; Lev. 26:12; Deut. 29:13. The phrase occurs repeatedly in Jeremiah (chs. 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; 31:3; 32:38).
All the ways. This passage is similar to that found in Deut. 5:33 (see Deut. 9:12, 16; 11:28; 31:29).
Go well. A common phrase in Jeremiah (see chs. 38:20; 40:9; 42:6), found also in the book of Deuteronomy (see Deut. 4:40; 5:16, 33; 6:18).
Jer 7:24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
Verses 24–28 recite the sad fact of Israel’s disobedience to the beneficent commands of God (see Ps. 81:11, 12).
Went backward. See v. 26; Jer. 2:27; 32:33; cf. Neh. 9:29; Hosea 4:16. Judah was like a headstrong ox that draws back and refuses to place its neck under the yoke. There can be no standstill in religious and moral experience. There is either progress or backsliding (see 5T 93).
Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
Worse than. The people of Jeremiah’s day sinned against greater light. They did not profit from the experiences of their forefathers. Furthermore, the prophet’s countrymen had set up objects of idolatry within the very precincts of the Temple (see Jer. 7:30; cf. 2 Kings 21:7).
Jer 7:28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
Israel stood out as a prominent example of obstinacy and rebellion (see Isa. 1:4). Her guilt was greatly increased by her covenant privileges.
Truth. That is, faithfulness or fidelity (see on ch. 5:3).
Jer 7:29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
29. Cut off hair. The verb and the possessive pronoun “thine” are feminine in the Hebrew, showing that a woman is addressed. The city is likened to a woman who, in the depth of her grief for her lost children, cuts off her hair and makes her way to the hills to bewail her bereavement (see Judges 11:37; Lam. 1:1–3).
Cutting the hair was a sign of extreme sorrow (Job 1:20; Isa. 15:2; Jer. 16:6; 48:37; Micah 1:16). Some have seen a reference here to the flowing locks that the Nazirites wore as the badge or token of their consecration to God (see Num. 6:19), locks which, when a Nazirite became contaminated through contact with the dead, he was to shave off (Num. 6:6–21).
The Valley of Slaughter
Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.
Manasseh had profaned the house of God by placing in it a graven image of Asherah (see 2 Kings 21:5, 7 see on Jer. 7:18). The people were not content to carry on licentious rites at the old Canaanite shrines or to burn incense to the host of heaven on the roofs of their houses (see Jer. 19:13), but they went so far as to pollute God’s dwelling place (see chs. 23:11; 32:34).
Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
High places. The Hebrew word used here, bamoth, is different from that translated “high places” in v. 29, and refers to established places for idolatrous worship (see 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 17:9; Eze.
Hinnom. A valley south and west of Jerusalem now called Wâdī er–Rabâbeh. Anciently it was probably a deep and narrow ravine with steep, rocky sides, but the erosion of the centuries has made the depression less pronounced. During the period of the kings of Judah the valley became identified with the worship of Molech.
Solomon was the first to introduce this abominable rite (see 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13). Molech worship (see on Lev. 18:21) became particularly prominent in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh (see 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6).
To put an end to these abominations Josiah “defiled” the valley (2 Kings 23:10, 14), making it, according to tradition, the receptacle of carcasses and filth. The book of Enoch (27:1) refers to the place as “the accursed valley.” The Greek name gehenna in the NT is a transliteration of the Heb. ge Hinnom, the name of this valley.
Burn their sons. The sacrificing of children formed part of the idolatrous worship of the Phoenicians, Moabites, Ammonites, and others. This horrid practice was taken over by Ahaz (see on 2 Kings 16:3) and Manasseh (see on 2 Kings 21:6).
55Diodorus Siculus (xx. 14) describes such a sacrifice to “Cronus of Tyre” (footnote: Baal or Moloch) as it took place in his day in Carthage, a Phoenician colony. The bronze statue of the god had the form of a human figure with outstretched arms extending toward the ground. The child sacrificed, when placed on the arms, rolled down into a pit filled with fire.
Diodorus is unclear as to whether the child was burned alive or was first slain, as usually with a burnt offering (see Jer. 19:5; Eze. 16:20, 21). Plutarch (On Superstition 13), describing such rites, says the child’s throat was cut. The mothers, standing by, were forbidden to weep; flutes and drums drowned the sounds of lament. It is possible that in the time of Jeremiah the children were first slain. Such sacrifices, the psalmist declared, were offered “unto devils” (Ps. 106:37, 38).
Commanded them not. See chs. 19:5; 32:35. Not only had God not commanded these rites, He had strictly forbidden such practices under the severest penalties (see Lev. 18:21; 20:1–5; Deut. 12:31; 18:9, 10).
JJer 7:32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
No room. See ch. 19:6–15. Literally, “from there being no place.” The thought seems to be that the slaughter would be so great that no burying place would be left.
Jer 7:33 Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
A great number of corpses would remain unburied (see Deut. 28:26; Jer. 16:4; 19:7; Jer. 34:20), because of the extent of the slaughter and the small number of survivors.
The city would become so nearly depopulated that there would be no one to scare away the birds or beasts from feeding on the corpses (cf. Rev. 19:17, 18, 21).
Jer 7:34 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
Sounds of joy. Woes and lamentations would take the place of mirth and gladness. Especially mentioned as ceasing were the joyous songs and music with which the bridegroom and his bride were escorted from her home to his (see Isa. 24:7, 8; Jer. 16:9; Rev. 18:23). Desolate. Heb. chorbah, used of places that were once inhabited but had fallen into ruins. The land would become a veritable waste and desert.