Jeremiah 7:31 (LSB)

Passage

They have built the high places of Topheth, 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, and it did not come upon My heart.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, And lift up a funeral lamentation on the bare heights; For Yahweh has rejected and abandoned The generation of His wrath.’

Jeremiah 7:30 For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares Yahweh, “they have set their detestable things in the house, which is called by My name, to defile it.

Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth, 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, and it did not come upon My heart.

Jeremiah 7:32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.

Jeremiah 7:33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "built", "high", "places", "topheth", "valley", "hinnom", "burn", and "sons". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "built" and "high", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "For the sons of Judah have done..." into verse 32's "Therefore behold days are coming declares Yahweh...", so "built" and "high" 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 "built" and "high" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.