Jeremiah 7:16

"Therefore pray thou not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched."

The repeated prohibition of Jeremiah's praying any more for Judah is also repeated again in Jeremiah 11:14,14:11ff; and from these repetitions, Ash concluded that. "In spite of their iniquity, Jeremiah had been praying for the people."[18] As many a heartbroken parent has discovered, it is nearly impossible to stop praying for a wayward son or daughter, no matter how wicked they might have become.

The meaning of this is simply that, "Persistent idolatry of Judah could only bring upon her as a consequence the curses of the covenant; and that time had now arrived."[19]

"To make cakes to the queen of heaven ..." (Jeremiah 7:17-18). This pagan goddess originally was worshipped in Canaan.

"The Phoenicians, called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte, the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. This male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; and, from this, came the introduction of so-called sacred prostitution into their worship."

It is impossible, nor is it necessary, to describe the shameful, licentious worship which characterized the idolatry associated with the queen of heaven. Stephen's mention of Israel's worshipping "the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42) is a reference to this very goddess, who was also said to be represented by the planet Venus. She was also identified as Ishtar (in Babylon) and the moon-goddess. The attractiveness of this idolatry to Israel was due primarily to the gratification of the lust of the flesh which it abundantly supplied.

"Do they provoke me to anger ..." (Jeremiah 7:19)? God's answer is, "No, they were only provoking themselves." So it still is. Men fancy that they are "breaking God's commandments"; but in reality, they are only "breaking themselves!" As Dummelow stated it, "Their sin did not provoke God to a mere helpless anger, but to a wrath that was quick to punish and destroy them."[20]