Jeremiah 19

The Broken Flask

1 Thus says the Lord, "Go, buy *See ch. 18:2a potter’s earthenware *ver. 10flask, and take some of *2 Kgs. 19:2;23:1;Ezek. 8:1the elders of the people and some of *2 Kgs. 19:2;23:1;Ezek. 8:1the elders of the priests, 2 and go out *See Josh. 15:8to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, *ch. 17:20‘Hear the word of the Lord, *See ch. 13:13O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that *1 Sam. 3:11;2 Kgs. 21:12the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 *See ch. 1:16Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; *2 Kgs. 21:16;See ch. 2:34and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 *ch. 7:31;32:35;Lev. 18:21and have built the high places of Baal *ch. 7:31;32:35;Lev. 18:21to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, *ch. 7:31;32:35;Deut. 17:3which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, *ch. 7:32behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or *ver. 2the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place *[Isa. 19:3] I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, *[Lev. 26:17] and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. *See ch. 7:33I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city *See ch. 18:16a horror, *See ch. 18:16a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 *Lev. 26:29;Deut. 28:53;Isa. 9:20;Lam. 2:20;4:10;Ezek. 5:10And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor *Deut. 28:53,55,57in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

10 "Then *[ch. 51:63,64] you shall break *ver. 1the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, *Ps. 2:9;Isa. 30:14;Lam. 4:2as one breaks a potter’s vessel, *[Prov. 6:15] so that it can never be mended. *ch. 7:32Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city *[2 Kgs. 23:10]like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—*ch. 32:29;44:18;2 Kgs. 23:12;Zeph. 1:5all the houses on whose *2 Sam. 11:2roofs offerings have been offered *Deut. 4:19;Acts 7:42to all the host of heaven, and *ch. 7:18;44:18drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled *[See ver. 12above]like the place of Topheth.’"

14 Then Jeremiah came from *ver. 2, 3Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, *ch. 26:2;[2 Chr. 20:5]and he stood in the court 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 bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, *ch. 7:26;2 Chr. 30:8because they have stiffened their neck, *ch. 25:3refusing to hear my words."