1 Thus sayth the Lord, Goe, and buy an earthen bottel of a potter, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the Priests, 2 And goe forth vnto the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrie of the East gate: and thou shalt preache there the wordes, that I shall tell thee, 3 And shalt say, Heare yee the worde of the Lord, O Kings of Iudah, and inhabitantes of Ierusalem, Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring a plague vpon this place, the which whosoeuer heareth, his eares shall tingle. 4 Because they haue forsaken me, and prophaned this place, and haue burnt incense in it vnto other gods, whome neyther they, nor their fathers haue knowen, nor the Kings of Iudah (they haue filled this place also with the blood of innocents, 5 And they haue built the hie places of Baal, to burne their sonnes with fire for burnt offrings vnto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my minde) 6 Therefore behold, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor ye valley of Ben-hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. 7 And I will bring the counsell of Iudah and Ierusalem to nought in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seeke their liues: and their carkeises will I giue to be meate for ye foules of the heauen, and to the beastes of the fielde. 8 And I will make this citie desolate and an hissing, so that euery one that passeth thereby, shalbe astonished and hisse because of all ye plagues thereof. 9 And I will feede the with the flesh of their sonnes and with the flesh of their daughters, and euery one shall eate the flesh of his friende in the siege and straitnesse, wherewith their enemies that seeke their liues, shall hold them strait. 10 Then shalt thou breake the bottell in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 And shalt say vnto them, Thus saith ye Lord of hostes, Euen so will I breake this people and this citie, as one breaketh a potters vessell, that cannot be made whole againe, and they shall bury them in Topheth till there be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I doe vnto this place, sayth the Lord, and to the inhabitantes thereof, and I will make this citie like Topheth. 13 For the houses of Ierusalem, and the houses of the Kings of Iudah shalbe defiled as the place of Topheth, because of al the houses vpon whose roofes they haue burnt incense vnto all the host of heauen, and haue powred out drinke offerings vnto other gods. 14 Then came Ieremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophecie, and he stood in the court of the Lordes house, and sayde to all the people, 15 Thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Beholde, I will bring vpon this citie, and vpon all her townes, all the plagues that I haue pronounced against it, because they haue hardened their neckes, and would not heare my wordes.
The Broken Jar
1 The Lord told me to go and buy a clay jar. He also told me to take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests, 2 and to go through Potsherd Gate out to Hinnom Valley. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me. 3 The Lord told me to say, “Kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. 4 I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods—gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people, 5 and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do this; it never even entered my mind. 6 So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley. 7 In this place I will frustrate all the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle. I will give their corpses to the birds and the wild animals as food. 8 I will bring such terrible destruction on this city that everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. 9 The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children.”
10 Then the Lord told me to break the jar in front of those who had gone with me 11 and to tell them that the Lord Almighty had said, “I will break this people and this city, and it will be like this broken clay jar that cannot be put together again. People will bury their dead even in Topheth because there will be nowhere else to bury them. 12 I promise that I will make this city and its inhabitants like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burned to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods—they will all be as unclean as Topheth.”
14 Then I left Topheth, where the Lord had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people 15 that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, “I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say.”