Jeremiah 7:18 (DRB)

Passage

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 7:16 Therefore do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will not hear thee.

Jeremiah 7:17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.

Jeremiah 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own countenance?

Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my indignation is enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "children", "gather", "wood", "fathers", "kindle", "fire", "women", and "knead". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "children" and "gather", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Seest thou not what they do in..." into verse 19's "Do they provoke me to anger saith...", so "children" and "gather" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "children" and "gather" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.