Jeremiah 19

1 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;

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 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;

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 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:

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 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;

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 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,

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, 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;

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 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, —

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 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;

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 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.

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

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

11 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.

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

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 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.

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 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:

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, 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.

“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.”