Jeremiah 19

1 Thus said the LORD, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen container, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;

Thus said the Lord, Go and buy a bottle from a maker of earthenware, and [take] some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.

And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Charsith, and proclaim there the words that I will speak unto thee.

3 Say, ‘Hear the LORD’s word, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle.

And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil over this place, so that the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know—they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah—and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

For the reason that they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, which they had not known, either they or their fathers, or the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I didn’t command, nor speak, which didn’t even enter into my mind.

And they have built the high-places of Ba'al, to burn their sons with fire as burnt-offerings unto Ba'al, which I had not commanded, nor spoken, and which had not come into my mind:

6 Therefore, behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.

Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called The Thopheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of slaughter.

7 “‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.

And I will make void 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 those that seek their life: and I will give their carcasses as food unto the fowls of the heaven, and unto the beasts of the earth.

8 I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

And I will render this city desolate, and an [object of] derision: every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will each eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’

And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his associate, in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and those that seek their life, shall distress them.

10 “Then you shall break the container in the sight of the men who go with you,

Then shalt thou break the bottle before the eyes of the men that are going with thee.

11 and shall tell them, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “Even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.

And thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, In this manner will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be restored again; and in Thopheth shall they bury, for want of room to bury.

12 This is what I will do to this place,” says the LORD, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth.

Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to its inhabitants, and to make this city as Thopheth:

13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are unclean, shall become as the place of the Thopheth, with all the houses upon the roofs of which they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the LORD’s house, and said to all the people:

Then came Jeremiah from the Thopheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he placed himself in the court of the house of the Lord; and said to all the people,

15 “The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”

Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it; because they have hardened their neck, so as not to hear my words.