Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
Because they have abandoned me and turned this place into something foreign to me. They have burned incense here to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah ever knew before. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.
God is explaining why judgment is coming - because His people abandoned Him for false gods and shed innocent blood in sacred places.
📚 Historical Context
This verse comes during Jeremiah's ministry in the final decades before Jerusalem's destruction in 586 BC. The people of Judah had turned to worshiping foreign gods like Baal and Molech, often in places that should have been holy to God. The 'blood of innocents' likely refers to child sacrifice, which some kings like Manasseh had practiced in places like the Valley of Hinnom.
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