< Jeremiah 19 >
1 Thus said the Lord, Go and buy a bottle from a maker of earthenware, and [take] some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Charsith, and proclaim there the words that I will speak unto thee.
3 And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil over this place, so that the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
4 For the reason that they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, which they had not known, either they or their fathers, or the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5 And they have built the high-places of Ba'al, to burn their sons with fire as burnt-offerings unto Ba'al, which I had not commanded, nor spoken, and which had not come into my mind:
6 Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called The Thopheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of slaughter.
7 And I will make void 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 those that seek their life: and I will give their carcasses as food unto the fowls of the heaven, and unto the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will render this city desolate, and an [object of] derision: every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his associate, in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and those that seek their life, shall distress them.
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle before the eyes of the men that are going with thee.
11 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, In this manner will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be restored again; and in Thopheth shall they bury, for want of room to bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to its inhabitants, and to make this city as Thopheth:
13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are unclean, shall become as the place of the Thopheth, with all the houses upon the roofs of which they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.
14 Then came Jeremiah from the Thopheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he placed himself in the court of the house of the Lord; and said to all the people,
15 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it; because they have hardened their neck, so as not to hear my words.
