Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before Me in My Temple and chant, “We are safe!” – only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears My Name, has become a den of thieves? (Jeremiah 7:8-11a)

This is part of a message God directed Jeremiah to speak to the people at the entrance of the Temple. Even as the worthies of Jerusalem gathered to “honor God with their lips” and to see—and be seen by—others, the prophet arrives to announce that for all their finery and showmanship, they are only deluding themselves. No amount of sacrifice…no solemnity of occasion…no gravity of countenance can make evil good, or good evil.