Jeremiah 19

1 Thus said YHWH: “Go, and you have acquired a potter’s earthen vessel, and from [the] elderly of the people, and from [the] elderly of the priests,

Thus says the Lord: “Go, and take a potter’s earthen bottle from the elders of the people and from the elders of the priests.

2 and you have gone forth to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that [is] at the opening of the gate of the pottery, and have proclaimed there the words that I speak to you,

And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is near the entrance to the earthen gate, and there you shall proclaim the words that I will speak to you.

3 and have said, Hear a word of YHWH, you kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem!” Thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: “Behold, I am bringing in evil on this place, at which the ears of everyone who is hearing it tingles,

And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead an affliction over this place, so much so that it will ring in the ears of all who hear about it.

4 because that they have forsaken Me, and make known this place, and make incense in it to other gods, that they did not know, they and their fathers, and the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place [with] innocent blood,

For they have abandoned me, and they have made this place foreign, and they have offered libations in it to foreign gods, whom neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

5 and have built the high places of Ba‘al to burn their sons with fire, burnt-offerings to Ba‘al, that I did not command, nor spoke of, nor did it come up on My heart.

And they have built the exalted places of Baal, in order to burn their children with fire as a holocaust to Baal, something that I did not instruct or speak of, nor did it enter into my heart.

6 Therefore, behold, days are coming,” a declaration of YHWH, “and this place is no longer called The Tophet and Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but Valley of the Slaughter.

Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 And I have made void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and have caused them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those seeking their life, and I have given their carcass for food to the bird of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth,

And I will scatter the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place. And I will overthrow them with the sword, in the sight of their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. And I will give their carcasses to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the land as food.

8 and I have made this city for a desolation, and for a hissing, everyone passing by it is astonished, and hisses for all its plagues.

And I will set this city amid stupor and hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be stupefied, and they will hiss over all its wounds.

9 And I have caused them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and they each eat the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the constriction with which their enemies constrict them, and those seeking their life.”

And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters. And each one of them will eat the flesh of his friend during the blockade and the embargo by which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, will enclose them.

10 “And you have broken the bottle before the eyes of the men who are going with you,

And you shall crush the bottle in the sight of the men who will go with you.

11 and have said to them, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Thus I break this people and this city, as one breaks the potter’s vessel, that is not able to be repaired again, and in Tophet they bury—without place to bury;

And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: In the same way, I will crush this people and this city, just as the potter’s vessel was crushed and cannot be made whole again. And they will be buried at Topheth, because there will be no other place for burial.

12 so I do to this place—a declaration of YHWH—and to its inhabitants, so as to make this city as Tophet;

So will I do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the Lord. And I will make this city to be like Topheth.

13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, have been as the place of Tophet—defiled, even all the houses on whose roofs they have made incense to all the host of the heavens, so as to pour out oblations to other gods.”

And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean, just like the place of Topheth: all the houses on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the armies of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods.”

14 And Jeremiah comes in from Tophet, to where YHWH had sent him to prophesy, and he stands in the court of the house of YHWH, and he says to all the people:

Then Jeremiah arrived from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the atrium of the house of the Lord, and he said to all the people:

15 “Thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing to this city, and on all its cities, all the calamity that I have spoken against it, for they have hardened their neck to not hear My words!”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead over this community, and over all its cities, all the evils that I have spoken against it. For they have hardened their necks, so that they would not heed my words.”