Jer 19, Jer 22 | ESV | STEP | Thus says the Lord , Go , buy a potter’s earthenware flask , and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests ,

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^aa potter’s earthenware ^bflask, and take some of ^cthe elders of the people and some of ^dthe elders of the priests, 2 and go out ^eto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ^f‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^gO kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ^hthe ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 ⁱBecause the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^jand because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 ^kand have built the high places of Baal ^lto burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^mwhich I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, ⁿbehold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^othe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place ^pI will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^qand will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^rI will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city ^sa horror, ^ta thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 ^uAnd I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^vin the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

10 “Then ^wyou shall break ^xthe flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^yas one breaks a potter’s vessel, ^zso that it can never be mended. ^aaMen shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^ablike Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah— ^acall the houses on whose ^adroofs offerings have been offered ^aeto all the host of heaven, and ^afdrink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^aglike the place of Topheth.’”

14 Then Jeremiah came from ^ahTopheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^aiand he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^ajbecause they have stiffened their neck, ^akrefusing to hear my words.”

Jeremiah 22

1 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, ^al‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: ^amDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^ando no wrong or violence ^aoto the resident alien, ^apthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ^aqshed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, ^arthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I ^asswear by myself, declares the Lord, that ^atthis house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of ^auLebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
^avan uninhabited city. ^{▼▼Hebrew cities}
7 ^axI will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
^ayand they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, ^az“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 ^baAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

10 ^bbWeep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
^bcbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and ^bdwho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but ^bein the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

13 ^bf“Woe to him who builds his house by ^bgunrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
^bhwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and ^bipainting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and ^bjdo justice and righteousness?
^bkThen it was well with him.
16 ^blHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;
^bmthen it was well.
Is not this ^bnto know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
^bofor shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^bp“They shall not lament for him, saying,
^bq‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
^br‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey ^bshe shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from ^btAbarim,
for all ^buyour lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
^bvThis has been your way from ^bwyour youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 ^bxThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and ^byyour lovers shall go into captivity;
^bzthen you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of ^caLebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
^cbpain as of a woman in labor!”
24 ^cc“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were ^cdthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and ^cegive you ^cfinto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 ^cgI will hurl you and ^chthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

28 Is this man ^ciConiah a despised, broken pot,
a ^cjvessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a ^ckland that they do not know?
29 ^clO land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as ^cmchildless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
^cnfor none of his offspring shall succeed
^coin sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”