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Jeremiah Chapter 19 (JPS)

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Jeremiah Chapter 19
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1 Thus said HaShem: Go, and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;

3 and say: Hear ye the word of HaShem, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; thus saith HaShem of hosts, the G-d of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle;

4 because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have offered 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;

5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind.

6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of 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 hand of them that seek their life; and their carcasses will I give to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth;

8 and I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof;

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 in the straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall straiten them.

10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

11 and shalt say unto them: Thus saith HaShem 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 in Topheth, for want of room to bury.

12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith HaShem, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth;

13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have offered unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.

14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither HaShem had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of HaShem'S house, and said to all the people:

15 'Thus saith HaShem of hosts, the G-d 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 made their neck stiff, that they might not hear My words.'

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Jeremiah 19 about?
God has Jeremiah take a potter's earthen bottle to the valley of the son of Hinnom and announce judgment there because of child sacrifice to Baal at that site (vv.1-5), then has him smash the bottle publicly as a sign that 'even so will I break this people and this city...as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again' (v.11).
What does Jeremiah 19:5 say was done at the high places of Baal?
It condemns burning 'their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal,' something God says he never commanded or even considered - the same practice condemned again in Jeremiah 32:35.
What does the broken bottle symbolize in Jeremiah 19?
Jeremiah is told to break the bottle in front of witnesses (v.10) as a visual sign that Jerusalem would be shattered 'as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again' (v.11).

Today's Verse

And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.

Mark 1:20 | ASV

Verse Of The Day

Jeremiah smashes the bottle before the assembled leaders as a sign that Jerusalem, like the vessel, 'cannot be made whole again,' and the confrontation that follows spills into Jeremiah 20. The same charge of child sacrifice at Topheth recurs later in Jeremiah 32:35.