19:1 This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests
19:2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,
19:3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.
19:4 For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.
19:5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal–something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.
19:6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
19:7 “‘In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
19:8 I will devastate this city and make it an object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.
19:9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives.’
19:10 “Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching,
19:11 and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
19:12 This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.
19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth–all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”
19:14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD’S temple and said to all the people,
19:15 “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’”
19:1 Thus says Jehovah, Go and buy a potter s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests;
19:2 And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words which I will speak to you,
19:3 And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I am about to bring evil upon this place, at which the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle;
19:4 Because they have forsaken Me and have estranged this place from Me and have burned incense in it to other gods, which neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent,
19:5 And they have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come up in My heart.
19:6 Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.
19:7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I 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 their corpses to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth for food.
19:8 And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss at all its wounds.
19:9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat his neighbor s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life distress them.
19:10 And you shall break the jar in the sight of the men who go with you.
19:11 And you shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, So I will break this people and this city in the same way as one breaks the potter s vessel so that it cannot be repaired anymore, and they will bury in Topheth because there will be no other place to bury.
19:12 Thus I will deal with this place, declares Jehovah, and with its inhabitants, so as to make this city like Topheth.
19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be like the place Topheth, defiled because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
19:14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the house of Jehovah and said to all the people,
19:15 Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its cities all the evil that I have spoken against it because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hear My words.