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,

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

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 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,

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 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.

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, 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.

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 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,

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

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 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.”

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

Then smash the jar in front of the people 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;

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

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 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.”

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 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:

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 “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!”

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.