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 saith Jehovah: Go and buy an earthen bottle of the potter, And take with thee the elders of the people, And 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 to the valley of the son of Hinnom, At the entrance of the pottery-gate, And proclaim there the words Which I shall speak to 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,

Say, Hear the word of Jehovah, Ye kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to bring such an evil upon this place, That whoever heareth of it, his ears 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 they have forsaken me, And have alienated this place, And have burned incense in it to strange gods, Which neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, And have filled this place with the blood of innocent children,

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 have built high places to Baal, To burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings to Baal; Which I ordained not, and commanded not, And which never came 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, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, When this place shall no more be called Tophet, 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.

For I will in this place bring to naught the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, And by the hands of them that seek their lives; And their dead bodies will I give for food To the birds of heaven and 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 make this city a wonder and a hissing; Every one that passeth by it shall wonder and hiss, On account 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.’

For I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and of their daughters, Yea, the flesh of each other shall they eat, In the straitness and the distress With which their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall press them.

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

Then break thou the bottle Before the eyes of the men that go 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 say to them: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, As one breaks a potter's vessel which cannot be made whole again; And they shall be buried in Tophet, till there is no 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 to this place and to its inhabitants, saith Jehovah, And I will make this city itself like Tophet;

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 shall be unclean, like the place of Tophet, All the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, And poured out drink-offerings 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 came Jeremiah from Tophet, Whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, And stood in the court of the house of Jehovah, 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 saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, All the evil which I have pronounced against it; For they have made their necks stiff, And refused to hearken to my words.