THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH
Jeremiah 19 ©
Through the sign of a potter’s pot, which the prophet is commanded to break in the valley of the son of Hinnom, God shows by the prophet first to the civil and ecclesiastical rulers and after to all the people in the court of the temple a most horrible desolation of Jerusalem for the abominations, which they committed in that valley, and consequently everywhere.
THUS saith the LORD, Go and get a 1potter’s earthen 2bottle, and 3take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
And go forth unto the valley of the 4son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the 5east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O 6kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of 7hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring 8evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his 9ears shall tingle.a
Because they have forsakenb me, and have 10estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the bloodc of innocents;
They have built also the high places of 11Baal, to burn their sons with 12fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, 13which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Therefore, behold, thed days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
And I will make 14void the 15counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the 16hands of them that seek their lives: and their 17carcases will I give to be meat for thee fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
And I will make this city 18desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Andf 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 friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Then shalt 19thou break the 20bottle in the sight of the men that go 21with thee,
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made 22whole again: and they 23shall burygthem in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as 24Tophet:
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, 25because of all the houses upon whose 26roofs they have burned incense unto all the 27host of heaven, and have 28poured out drinkh offerings unto other gods.
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he 29stood in the court of the LORD’S 30house; and said to all the people,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all 31her towns all the 32evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their 33necks,i that they might not 34hear my words.