Jeremiah 19:1-13

The Broken Flask

1Thus 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, 2and 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. 3You shall say, fHear 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 6therefore, 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. 7And 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. 8And 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, 11and 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. 12Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ablike Topheth. 13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judahacall 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.’”

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