Jeremiah 19
The LORD commanded Jeremiah to buy a potter's earthen bottle and go to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. He prophesied that the valley would be called the Valley of Slaughter because of the innocent blood shed there. Jeremiah broke the bottle before the elders as a sign that the LORD would break Jerusalem and her people beyond repair.
| v | King James Version | Modern English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; | This is what the LORD said: "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests. |
| 2 | And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, | Go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I tell You. |
| 3 | And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. | Say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, You kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it ring. |
| 4 | Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged 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 blood of innocents; | For they have forsaken Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense here to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. |
| 5 | They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: | They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal — something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter My mind. |
| 6 | Therefore, behold, the 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. | So the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. |
| 7 | And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. | In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies — at the hands of those who want to kill them. I will give their bodies as food for the birds of the air and the wild animals. |
| 8 | And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. | I will devastate this city and make it an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff at all its wounds. |
| 9 | And 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. | I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other's flesh during the siege — the distress their enemies will inflict on them as they try to destroy them.' |
| 10 | Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, | Then break the jar in front of the men who went with You |
| 11 | 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 whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. | and say to them, 'This is what the LORD of hosts says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room to bury anyone.' |
| 12 | Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: | This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here," says the LORD. "I will make this city like Topheth. |
| 13 | And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. | The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place of Topheth — all the houses where they burned incense on the rooftops to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods." |
| 14 | Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people, | Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent Him to prophesy, and He stood in the court of the LORD's house and said to all the people: |
| 15 | Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. | "This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I am going to bring on this city and on all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to My words.'" |