Jer 19 | NASB2020 | STEP | This is what the Lord says : “ Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar , and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests .

Jeremiah 19

The Broken Jar

1 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a ^apotter’s earthenware ^bjar, and take some of the ^celders of the people and some of the ^{▼▼Or elders of the
,} ^esenior priests. 2 Then go out to the ^fValley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the ^{▼▼I.e., pottery fragment}Potsherd Gate, and ^hproclaim there the words that I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you ⁱkings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a ^jdisaster upon this place, at which the ^kears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4 Since they have ^labandoned Me and have ^mmade this place foreign, and have burned ^{▼▼Or incense}sacrifices in it to ^oother gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the ^pblood of the innocent 5 and have built the ^qhigh places of Baal to burn their ^rsons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My ^{▼▼Lit heart}mind; 6 therefore, behold, ^tdays are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called ^uTopheth or ^vthe Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will ^wfrustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and ^xI will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their ^ycarcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. 8 I will also turn this city into an object of ^zhorror and ^{▼▼Or whistling}hissing; ^abeveryone who passes by it will be appalled and ^{▼▼Or whistle}hiss because of all its ^{▼▼Lit wounds}disasters. 9 And I will make them ^aeeat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.”’

10 “Then you are to break the ^afjar in the sight of the men who accompany you, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “To the same extent I will ^agbreak this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will ^ahbury their dead in Topheth, ^{▼▼Or until there is no place left to bury}because there is no other place for burial. 12 This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth. 13 The ^ajhouses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ^akdefiled like the place Topheth, because of all the ^alhouses on whose rooftops they burned ^{▼▼Or incense}sacrifices to ^anall the heavenly ^{▼▼Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.}lights and ^appoured 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 ^aqcourtyard of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have ^arstiffened their necks so ^asas not to listen to My words.’”