Jeremiah 7:5 (LSB)

Passage

For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor,

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 7:3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good, and I will let you dwell in this place.

Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’

Jeremiah 7:5 For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor,

Jeremiah 7:6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own evil demise,

Jeremiah 7:7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "truly", "make", "ways", "deeds", "good", "justice", and "between". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "truly" and "make", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Do not trust in lying words saying..." into verse 6's "if you do not oppress the sojourner...", so "truly" and "make" 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 "truly" and "make" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.