Jeremiah 19

1 This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,

Thus says the Lord: “Go, and take a potter’s earthen bottle from the elders of the people and from the elders of the priests.

2 and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you,

And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is near the entrance to the earthen gate, and there you shall proclaim the words that I will speak to you.

3 saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,

And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead an affliction over this place, so much so that it will ring in the ears of all who hear about it.

4 because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in this place to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

For they have abandoned me, and they have made this place foreign, and they have offered libations in it to foreign gods, whom neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.

And they have built the exalted places of Baal, in order to burn their children with fire as a holocaust to Baal, something that I did not instruct or speak of, nor did it enter into my heart.

6 So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by 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.

And I will scatter the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place. And I will overthrow them with the sword, in the sight of their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. And I will give their carcasses to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the land as food.

8 I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

And I will set this city amid stupor and hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be stupefied, and they will hiss over all its wounds.

9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters. And each one of them will eat the flesh of his friend during the blockade and the embargo by which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, will enclose them.

10 Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the men who accompany you,

And you shall crush the bottle in the sight of the men who will go with you.

11 and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.

And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: In the same way, I will crush this people and this city, just as the potter’s vessel was crushed and cannot be made whole again. And they will be buried at Topheth, because there will be no other place for burial.

12 This is what I will do to this place and to its residents, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.

So will I do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the Lord. And I will make this city to be like Topheth.

13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”

And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean, just like the place of Topheth: all the houses on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the armies of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods.”

14 Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and proclaimed to all the people,

Then Jeremiah arrived from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the atrium of the house of the Lord, and he said to all the people:

15 “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and on all the villages around it every disaster I have pronounced against them, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead over this community, and over all its cities, all the evils that I have spoken against it. For they have hardened their necks, so that they would not heed my words.”