Jeremiah 19

1 Yahweh said this, “Go and purchase a potter's clay flask while you are with the elders of the people and the priests.

Then said the Lord to me, Go and get an earthen bottle, the work of the potter, and thou shalt bring [some] of the elders of the people, and of the priests;

2 Then go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom at the entry of the Broken Pottery Gate, and there proclaim the words that I will tell you.

and thou shalt go forth to the burial-place of the sons of their children, which is at the entrance of the gate of Charsith; and do thou read there all these words which I shall speak to thee:

3 Say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, “See, I am about to bring disaster on this place, and the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.

and thou shalt say to them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and men of Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they that enter in by these gates; thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I [will] bring evil upon this place, so that the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle.

4 I will do this because they have abandoned me and profaned this place. In this place they offer sacrifices to other gods that they did not know. They, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have also filled this place with innocent blood.

Because they forsook me, and profaned this place, and burnt incense in it to strange gods, which they and their fathers knew not; and the kings of Juda have filled this place with innocent blood,

5 They built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to him—something that I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

and built high places for Baal, to burn their children in the fire, which things I commanded not, neither did I design [them] in my heart:

6 Therefore, see, the days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when this place will no longer be called Topheth, the Valley of Ben Hinnom, for it will be the Valley of Slaughter.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when this place shall no more be called, The fall and burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter.

7 In this place I will make the plans of Judah and Jerusalem useless. I will make them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of the ones seeking their lives. Then I will give their corpses as food to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth.

And I will destroy the counsel of Juda and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cast them down with the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and to the wild beasts of the earth.

8 Then I will make this city a ruin and the object of hissing, for everyone passing by it will shudder and hiss regarding all of its plagues.

And I will bring this city to desolation and [make it] a hissing; every one that passes by it shall scowl, and hiss because of all her plague.

9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters; each man will consume the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the anguish brought on them by their enemies and the ones seeking their lives.”'

And they shall eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his neighbour in the blockade, and in the siege wherewith their enemies shall besiege them.

10 Then you will break the clay flask in the sight of the men who went with you.

And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go forth with thee,

11 You will say to them, 'Yahweh of hosts says this: I will do this same thing to this people and this city—this is Yahweh's declaration—just as Jeremiah shattered the clay flask so that it could not be repaired again. People will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no place left for any more dead.

and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Thus will I break in pieces this people, and this city, even as an earthen vessel is broken in pieces which cannot be mended again.

12 This is what I will do to this place and its inhabitants when I make this city like Topheth—this is Yahweh's declaration—

Thus will I do, saith the Lord, to this place, and to the inhabitants of it, that this city may be given up, as one that is falling to ruin.

13 so the houses of Jerusalem and of the kings of Judah will become like Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops the unclean people worship all the stars of the heavens and pour out drink offerings to other gods.'”

And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda shall be as a ruinous place, because of their uncleannesses in all the houses, wherein they burnt incense upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and poured drink-offerings to strange gods.

14 Then Jeremiah went from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the courtyard of Yahweh's house and he said to all the people,

And Jeremias came from [the place] of the Fall, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house: and said to all the people, Thus saith the Lord;

15 “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, 'See, I am about to bring to this city and to all of its towns all the disaster that I have proclaimed against it, since they stiffened their neck and refused to listen to my words.'”

Behold I bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, and upon the villages of it, all the evils which I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their neck, [that they might not] hearken to my commands.