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 Yahweh, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, —and take 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,

Then shalt thou go forth into the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is at the opening of the gate of potsherds; and proclaim there the words which I shall 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 shalt say, —Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah And inhabitants of Jerusalem, —Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts—God of Israel Behold me! bringing in calamity upon this place, which shall cause the ears of every one that heareth it, to 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.

Because they have forsaken me, And have treated this as a foreign place, And have burned incense therein to other gods, which neither they, nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah, have known; 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 have built the high places of Baal for burning up their sons in the fire as ascending-sacrifices to Baal, —Which I commanded not, Nor spake, Neither came it up on 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.

Therefore, lo! days coming, Declareth Yahweh, When this place shall be called no longer The Topheth, or The Valley of Ben-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 pour out 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 them who seek their life, —

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 give their dead bodies for food, to the bird of the heavens and to the beast of the earth; And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing, —every one that passeth by it, shall be astonished and hiss over all her 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 suffer them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, yea every one—the flesh of his friend, will they eat, —in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith, their enemies, and they who seek their lives, will straiten 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 who are walking 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 shalt say unto them—Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts—Thus and thus, will I break this people, and this city, As one breaketh the vessel of a potter, which cannot be made whole any more, —And in Topheth, shall they bury, for want of place 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 Declareth Yahweh, And to the inhabitants thereof, —Even making this city 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.”

Yea, the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall like the place of Topheth, be places defiled, —even all the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of the heavens, and 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 entered Jeremiah out of Topheth, whither Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, —and stood in the court of the house of Yahweh, and said unto 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 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! brining in against this city, and upon all the cities thereof, The whole calamity which I have pronounced against her, —Because they stiffened their neck, that they might not hear my words.