Jeremiah 7:18 (LSB)

Passage

The children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people and do not lift up a cry of lamentation or prayer for them and do not intercede with Me, for I am not hearing you.

Jeremiah 7:17 Are you not seeing what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers make the fire burn, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me.

Jeremiah 7:19 Do they provoke Me?” declares Yahweh. “Is it not themselves they provoke to the shame of their own face?”

Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "children", "gather", "wood", "fathers", "make", "fire", "burn", and "women". 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 "Are you not seeing what they are..." into verse 19's "Do they provoke Me declares Yahweh Is...", 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.