| Chapter
19 |
| 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; |
|
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, |
| 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. |
| 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; |
| 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: |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
|
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 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. |
| 12 | Thus will I do unto this
place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city
as Tophet: |
| 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. |
| 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, |
| 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. |
