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.

Thus saith Jehovah: Go and buy an earthen bottle of the potter, And take with thee the elders of the people, And the elders 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 go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, At the entrance of the pottery-gate, And proclaim there the 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.

Say, Hear the word of Jehovah, Ye kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to bring such an evil upon this place, That whoever heareth of it, his ears 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.

For they have forsaken me, And have alienated this place, And have burned incense in it to strange gods, Which neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, And have filled this place with the blood of innocent children,

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 have built high places to Baal, To burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings to Baal; Which I ordained not, and commanded not, And which never came into my mind.

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 are coming, saith Jehovah, When this place shall no more be called Tophet, Nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, But the valley 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.

For I will in this place bring to naught the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, And by the hands of them that seek their lives; And their dead bodies will I give for food To the birds of heaven and the 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 make this city a wonder and a hissing; Every one that passeth by it shall wonder and hiss, On account of all its plagues.

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.”'

For I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and of their daughters, Yea, the flesh of each other shall they eat, In the straitness and the distress With which their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall press them.

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

Then break thou the bottle Before the eyes of the men that go 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 say to them: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, As one breaks a potter's vessel which cannot be made whole again; And they shall be buried in Tophet, till there is no room to bury.

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 to this place and to its inhabitants, saith Jehovah, And I will make this city itself like Tophet;

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 Judah shall be unclean, like the place of Tophet, All the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, And poured out 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,

Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, Whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, And stood in the court of the house of Jehovah, And said to all the people:

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.'”

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, All the evil which I have pronounced against it; For they have made their necks stiff, And refused to hearken to my words.