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 with you,

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

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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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 smash the jar in front of the people with you.

Then shalt thou break the bottle, before the eyes of the men who are walking with thee;

11 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.

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

Thus, will I do to this place Declareth Yahweh, And to the inhabitants thereof, —Even making this city like Topheth:

13 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.

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 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,

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 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.

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.