Jeremias 19

1 Then said the Lord to me, Go and get an earthen bottle, the work of the potter, and you shall bring [some] of the elders of the people, and of the priests;

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 with you,

2 and you shall go forth to the burial-place of the sons of their children, which is at the entrance of the gate of Charsith; and do you read there all these words which I shall speak to you:

and go through the Broken Pottery Gate to the valley of Ben-hinnom. Announce this message I'm giving you.

3 and you shall say to them, Hear you the word of the Lord, you kings of Juda, and men of Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they that enter in by these gates; thus says the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I [will] bring evil upon this place, so that the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle.

Tell them, Listen to what the Lord says, kings of Judah and people living in Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring down on this place such a disaster that it will make the ears of anyone who hears about it ring.

4 Because they forsook me, and profaned this place, and burnt incense in it to strange gods, which they and their fathers knew not; and the kings of Juda have filled this place with innocent blood,

My people have deserted me and have made this a place where foreign gods are worshiped. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they and their forefathers and the kings of Judah never knew anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

5 and built high places for Baal, to burn their children in the fire, which things I commanded not, neither did I design [them] in my heart:

They have built pagan shrines to Baal where they burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal. This is something I never commanded or even mentioned. I never even thought of such a thing!

6 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called, The fall and burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter.

So watch out! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when instead of Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom this place will be called the Valley of Killing.

7 And I will destroy the counsel of Juda and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cast them down with the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and to the wild beasts of the earth.

Right here in this place I'm going to spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies who want to kill them come and do exactly that. Their dead bodies will be food for birds of prey and wild animals.

8 And I will bring this city to desolation and [make it] a hissing; every one that passes by it shall scowl, and hiss because of all her plague.

I'm going to make this city desolate, a place that is mocked. Everyone who passes by will be horrified, shocked by all its damage.

9 And they shall eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his neighbour in the blockade, and in the siege wherewith their enemies shall besiege them.

The siege brought by their enemies who want to kill them will be so terrible that I will make them eat each other, even their own sons and daughters.

10 And you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men that go forth with you,

Then smash the jar in front of the people with you.

11 and you shall say, Thus says the Lord, Thus will I break in pieces this people, and this city, even as an earthen vessel is broken in pieces which can’t be mended again.

Tell them: this is what the Lord Almighty says: I'm going to smash this nation and this city, just like a clay jar is smashed so it can't ever be repaired. People will bury their dead in Topheth until it's full.

12 Thus will I do, says the Lord, to this place, and to the inhabitants of it, that this city may be given up, as one that is falling to ruin.

This is what I'm going to do to this place and to the people who live here, declares the Lord. I will turn this city into Topheth.

13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda shall be as a ruinous place, because of their uncleannesses in all the houses, wherein they burnt incense upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and poured drink-offerings to strange gods.

All the houses of Jerusalem and the palaces of the kings of Judah will become unclean just like Topheth, because they are all the houses whose rooftops they used to burn incense to the sun, moon, and stars, and poured out drink offerings to other gods.

14 And Jeremias came from [the place] of the Fall, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house: and said to all the people, Thus says the Lord;

Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to deliver this message. He went and stood in the court of the Lord's Temple and announced to everyone,

15 Behold I bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, and upon the villages of it, all the evils which I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their neck, [that they might not] listen to my commands.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Watch out! I am about to bring down on this city and on all its surrounding villages every disaster I warned them about, because they have stubbornly refused to listen to what I say.