Jeremiah 19

1 Thus sayth the Lord, Goe, and buy an earthen bottel of a potter, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the Priests,

This is another message that Yahweh gave [to me]: “Go and buy a clay jar from a man who makes them. Then take with you some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests.

2 And goe forth vnto the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrie of the East gate: and thou shalt preache there the wordes, that I shall tell thee,

Go out [of the city] past the Gate of Broken Pots, to the place [overlooking the dump for broken pottery in] the Ben-Hinnom Valley. Then give them a message.

3 And shalt say, Heare yee the worde of the Lord, O Kings of Iudah, and inhabitantes of Ierusalem, Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring a plague vpon this place, the which whosoeuer heareth, his eares shall tingle.

Say to them, ‘[This message is for] you kings of Judah and [other] people of Jerusalem. Listen to what Yahweh is saying! The Commander of the armies of angels says that he will cause there to be a terrible disaster in [Jerusalem]. Those who hear about it will be stunned/shocked [IDM].

4 Because they haue forsaken me, and prophaned this place, and haue burnt incense in it vnto other gods, whome neyther they, nor their fathers haue knowen, nor the Kings of Iudah (they haue filled this place also with the blood of innocents,

[That will happen] because [you Israeli] people have stopped worshiping me, and have caused this place to be a place where [you worship] foreign gods. You burn sacrifices to gods that neither you nor your ancestors nor [even] the kings of Judah ever heard about. And you have filled this place with the blood of innocent people [whom you have killed].

5 And they haue built the hie places of Baal, to burne their sonnes with fire for burnt offrings vnto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my minde)

You have built shrines to honor [your god] Baal, and at those shrines you have [killed] your own children and offered them to be sacrifices to Baal. I never commanded you to do that, I never spoke about doing that, I never even thought about anyone doing that.

6 Therefore behold, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor ye valley of Ben-hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

So, beware, [because I, ] Yahweh, say that there will be a time when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley; it will be called Slaughter Valley.

7 And I will bring the counsell of Iudah and Ierusalem to nought in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seeke their liues: and their carkeises will I giue to be meate for ye foules of the heauen, and to the beastes of the fielde.

In this place I will ruin the plans of [you people who live in] Jerusalem and in [other places in] Judah. I will allow your enemies who want to kill you to kill [many of] you with their swords. [Then] I will allow your corpses to remain on the ground to be food for vultures and wild animals.

8 And I will make this citie desolate and an hissing, so that euery one that passeth thereby, shalbe astonished and hisse because of all ye plagues thereof.

I will [completely destroy] Jerusalem and cause it to become a heap of ruins that people will despise. All the people who pass by will be appalled, and they will be shocked when they see that the city has been destroyed.

9 And I will feede the with the flesh of their sonnes and with the flesh of their daughters, and euery one shall eate the flesh of his friende in the siege and straitnesse, wherewith their enemies that seeke their liues, shall hold them strait.

I will enable your enemies who want to kill you to surround the city for a long time. [Then the food will be all gone, and you people will be extremely hungry, with the result that] you people in the city will eat the flesh of your own children and your neighbors’ children.’

10 Then shalt thou breake the bottell in the sight of the men that go with thee,

[Jeremiah, after you tell that to them], while the people who are with you are watching, smash the jar [that you brought].

11 And shalt say vnto them, Thus saith ye Lord of hostes, Euen so will I breake this people and this citie, as one breaketh a potters vessell, that cannot be made whole againe, and they shall bury them in Topheth till there be no place to bury.

Then say to them, ‘This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “Just like this jar has been smashed and cannot be repaired, I will smash this city of Jerusalem and other places in Judah. You will bury some of your corpses here in this dump, until there is no more space to bury any more corpses.

12 Thus will I doe vnto this place, sayth the Lord, and to the inhabitantes thereof, and I will make this citie like Topheth.

That is what I will do to this city and to you people who live here. I will cause this city to be desecrated, like [King Josiah caused Topheth to be] a place that was unfit for people to worship me there.

13 For the houses of Ierusalem, and the houses of the Kings of Iudah shalbe defiled as the place of Topheth, because of al the houses vpon whose roofes they haue burnt incense vnto all the host of heauen, and haue powred out drinke offerings vnto other gods.

The houses in Jerusalem and the palaces of the kings of Judah will be desecrated like this place will be. All the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to honor the stars [that you worshiped], and where you poured out wine [to be an offering] to your gods, will become (desecrated/unacceptable places for people to worship me).”’”

14 Then came Ieremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophecie, and he stood in the court of the Lordes house, and sayde to all the people,

Then I returned from the garbage dump where Yahweh had sent me to tell them that message. Then I stood in the courtyard of Yahweh’s temple and said this to all the people [who were there]:

15 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Beholde, I will bring vpon this citie, and vpon all her townes, all the plagues that I haue pronounced against it, because they haue hardened their neckes, and would not heare my wordes.

“This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: ‘I will cause there to be a disaster in this city and in the villages around it like I promised, because you people have stubbornly [IDM] refused to pay attention to what I said to you.’”