Jeremiah 19
19
The Broken Jar
1The LORD told me to go and buy a clay jar. He also told me to take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests, 2#2 Kgs 23.10; Jer 7.30–32; 32.34–35and to go through Potsherd Gate out to the Valley of Hinnom. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me. 3The LORD told me to say, “Kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. 4I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods — gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people, 5#Lev 18.21and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do this; it never even entered my mind. 6So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Hinnom. Instead, it will be known as the Valley of Slaughter. 7In this place I will frustrate all the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle. I will give their corpses to the birds and the wild animals as food. 8I will bring such terrible destruction on this city that everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. 9The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children.”
10Then the LORD told me to break the jar in front of those who had gone with me 11and to tell them that the LORD Almighty had said, “I will break this people and this city, and it will be like this broken clay jar that cannot be put together again. People will bury their dead even in Topheth because there will be nowhere else to bury them. 12I promise that I will make this city and its inhabitants like Topheth. 13The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burnt to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods — they will all be as unclean as Topheth.”
14Then I left Topheth, where the LORD had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people 15that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, “I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 19
19
The Clay Jar
1This is what the Lord says: “Go, buy a potter’s clay#Jr 18:2 jar. Take#19:1 Syr, Tg; MT omits Take some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests#2Kg 19:2 2and go out to Ben Hinnom Valley#2Kg 23:10; 2Ch 28:3; Jr 7:31–32 near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. 3Say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.#Jr 17:20 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder#19:3 Lit about it, his ears will tingle; Hb obscure#1Sm 3:11; 2Kg 21:12 4because they have abandoned me#Dt 28:20; 31:16; 1Sm 8:8; 1Kg 11:33; 2Kg 22:17; 2Ch 34:25; Jr 1:16; 5:7 and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.#Dt 19:10; 27:25; 2Kg 21:6,16; 24:4; Is 59:7; Jr 2:34 5They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.#19:5 Lit mentioned, and it did not arise on my heart#Jr 7:31; 32:35
6“‘Therefore, look, the days are coming#Jr 7:32; 16:14; 23:5; 48:12; 49:2; 51:47,52 — this is the Lord’s declaration — when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley.#Jr 25:34 7I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who intend to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.#Dt 28:26; Ps 79:2; Jr 7:33; 15:3; 16:4 8I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and scoff because of all its wounds.#Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:12,22; 49:17; 50:13; Mc 1:9; 6:16; Nah 3:19; Zph 2:15 9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other’s flesh in the distressing siege inflicted on them by their enemies who intend to take their life.’#Dt 28:53–57; Lm 4:10; Ezk 5:10
10“Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you, 11and you are to proclaim to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.#Jr 7:32 12That is what I will do to this place — this is the declaration of the Lord — and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. 13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth — all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the stars in the sky#Dt 4:19; 2Kg 17:16; 23:4–5; Zph 1:5 and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”
14Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple,#2Ch 20:5; Jr 26:2 and proclaimed to all the people, 15“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city — and on all its cities — every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.’”#Jr 7:26
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