Jeremiah 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Late seventh century BC, under Jehoiakim, shortly before the arrest in the next chapter
Location
The Valley of Ben Hinnom outside Jerusalem, entered through the Potsherd Gate, then back in the temple courtyard
Audience
The people of Judah, with a select group of elders and senior priests brought along as witnesses
Situation
Jeremiah buys a fired clay jar, leads a delegation of leaders out to the valley where children had been burned as offerings, and smashes the jar in front of them to show a break that cannot be repaired. He then returns to the temple court and repeats the message publicly.
Key Background
The Hinnom valley ran along the south side of the city and held Topheth, an installation for child sacrifice that Josiah had defiled but that had returned to use, and the same valley later gave its name to the word for hell. Unlike wet clay on the wheel in the previous chapter, a jar that has been fired cannot be reworked, so the two sign acts are deliberately paired to mark a change from warning to verdict. Bringing named elders and senior priests as witnesses follows legal convention, since a claim needed multiple observers to stand, and the Potsherd Gate was where the city's broken pottery was dumped, making the location part of the message.
This is what said: "Go buy a from a potter, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests with you.
Then go out to the of near the entrance of the and announce there the words I'm about to tell you.
Say: 'Listen to the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and people living in Jerusalem. This is what Yahweh, of the God of Israel, says: I'm to bring a disaster on this place so terrible that the of who it will
Because they have me and this They've burned offerings here to other gods that neither they, nor their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah ever knew. And they have filled this with the blood of innocent people.
They have built to where they their own as offerings to — something I commanded, spoke about, and
So watch out — the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when this place will no longer be called or the of Ben-Hinnom, but the of
I will the of Judah and Jerusalem in this very place. I will make them fall by the sword right in front of their enemies, killed by people who want them dead. And I will hand over their corpses as food for the birds and wild animals.
I will turn this city into a horror show and a target for mockery. Everyone who passes by will be shocked and will at the sight of all its wounds.
I will make them the of their own and and they will each other's during the siege and in the desperate straits their enemies impose on them — the ones who want them dead.
Then the right in front of the men who went with you,
and tell them, 'This is what Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, says: I will smash this people and this city just like someone smashes a potter's vessel so completely that it can be And they will bury their dead in Topheth because there will be no room left anywhere else to bury them.'
This is what I will do to this place and the people who live here, declares Yahweh. I will this
The houses of Jerusalem and the palaces of the kings of Judah will become — just like the place of Topheth — every house where people on their to the and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
Then Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he went and stood in the courtyard of and said to all the people:
"This is what Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to bring down on this city and on all its surrounding towns every disaster I have pronounced against it, because they have become and refused to listen to what I've said."