Jeremiah 7:29-31
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
29 (A)Cut off your hair[a] and throw it away!
on the heights raise a lament;
The Lord has indeed rejected and cast off
the generation that draws down his wrath.
30 The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes—oracle of the Lord. They have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, thereby defiling it.(B) 31 In the Valley of Ben-hinnom[b] they go on building the high places of Topheth to sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire, something I never commanded or considered.
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- 7:29 Hair: the unshorn hair of the nazirite, regarded as sacred because of a vow, temporary or permanent, to abstain from cutting or shaving the hair; nazirites also avoided contact with a corpse and with all products of the vine; cf. Nm 6:4–8. The cutting of this hair was a sign of extreme mourning.
- 7:31 Valley of Ben-hinnom: this valley was probably south of Jerusalem. Topheth: perhaps, “fire pit.”
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