The Broken Jar

1Thus saith Jehovah: Go and buy a potter's earthen flagon, and [take] of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the pottery-gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle; 4because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place [from me], 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; 5and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it up into my mind: 6therefore behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. 7And 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 carcases will I give as food to the fowl of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. 8And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; every one that passeth by shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

10And thou shalt break the flagon in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah 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, till there be no place to bury. 12Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, and make this city as Topheth. 13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be as the place of Topheth, defiled, all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heavens, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.

14And Jeremiah came from Topheth, whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people, 15Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her cities all the evil that I have spoken against it; for they have hardened their necks, not to hear my words.