Jeremiah 19

The Broken Jar

1Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a 1potter’s earthenware 2jar, and take some of the 3elders of the people and some of the 45senior priests. 2Then go out to the 6valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and 7proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O 8kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a 9calamity upon this place, at which the 10ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4Because they have 11forsaken Me and have 12made this an alien place and have burned 13sacrifices in it to 14other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the 15blood of the innocent 5and have built the 16high places of Baal to burn their 17sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My 18mind; 6therefore, behold, 19days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called 20Topheth or 21the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7I will 22make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and 23I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their 24carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8I will also make this city a 25desolation and an object of hissing; 26everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its 27disasters. 9I will make them 28eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’

10“Then you are to break the 29jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I 30break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will 31bury in Topheth 32because there is no other place for burial. 12This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth. 13The 33houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be 34defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the 35houses on whose rooftops they burned 36sacrifices to 37all the heavenly host and 38poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

14Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the 39court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people: 15“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have 40stiffened their necks so 41as not to heed My words.’”