Jeremiah 19

The Broken Jar

1This is what the Lord says: “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 7Potsherd Gate, and 8proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you 9kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a 10disaster upon this place, at which the 11ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4Since they have 12abandoned Me and have 13made this place foreign, and have burned 14sacrifices in it to 15other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the 16blood of the innocent 5and have built the 17high places of Baal to burn their 18sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My 19mind; 6therefore, behold, 20days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called 21Topheth or 22the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. 7And I will 23frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and 24I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their 25carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. 8I will also turn this city into an object of 26horror and 27hissing; 28everyone who passes by it will be appalled and 29hiss because of all its 30disasters. 9And I will make them 31eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.”’

10“Then you are to break the 32jar in the sight of the men who accompany you, 11and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “To the same extent I will 33break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will 34bury their dead in Topheth, 35because 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 36houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be 37defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the 38houses on whose rooftops they burned 39sacrifices to 40all the heavenly 41lights and 42poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

14Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the 43courtyard of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, 15“This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have 44stiffened their necks so 45as not to listen to My words.’”