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 said the Lord, Go and buy a bottle from a maker of earthenware, and [take] some of the elders of the people, and of 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 forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Charsith, and proclaim there the words that I will speak unto thee.

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 say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil over this place, so that the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.

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 the reason that they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, which they had not known, either they or their fathers, or the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

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 high-places of Ba'al, to burn their sons with fire as burnt-offerings unto Ba'al, which I had not commanded, nor spoken, and which had not come into my mind:

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.

Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called The Thopheth, nor 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 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 that seek their life: and I will give their carcasses as food unto the fowls of the heaven, and unto the beasts of the earth.

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 render this city desolate, and an [object of] derision: every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

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 cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his associate, in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and those that seek their life, shall distress them.

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

Then shalt thou break the bottle before the eyes of the men that are going with thee.

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 thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, In this manner will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be restored again; and in Thopheth shall they bury, for want of room to bury.

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

Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to its inhabitants, and to make this city as Thopheth:

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, which are unclean, shall become as the place of the Thopheth, with all the houses upon the roofs of which they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other 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 came Jeremiah from the Thopheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he placed himself in the court of the house of the Lord; and 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 hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it; because they have hardened their neck, so as not to hear my words.