1 Thus says the Loʀᴅ, “Go and buy a AJer 18:2potter’s earthenware BJer 19:10jar, and take some of the CNum 11:16elders of the people and some of the 1Or elders ofD2 Kin 19:2; Ezek 8:11senior priests. 2  “Then go out to the AJosh 15:8; 2 Kin 23:10; Jer 7:31, 32; 32:35valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and BProv 1:20proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Loʀᴅ, O AJer 17:20kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Loʀᴅ of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a BJer 6:19; 19:15calamity upon this place, at which the C1 Sam 3:11ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4  “Because they have ADeut 28:20; Is 65:11; Jer 2:13, 17, 19; 17:13forsaken Me and have BEzek 7:22; Dan 11:31made this an alien place and have burned 1Or incensesacrifices in it to CJer 7:9; 11:13other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the D2 Kin 21:6, 16; Jer 2:34; 7:6blood of the innocent 5 and have built the ANum 22:41; Jer 32:35high places of Baal to burn their BLev 18:21; 2 Kin 17:17; Ps 106:37, 38sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My 1Lit heartmind; 6 therefore, behold, AJer 7:32days are coming,” declares the Loʀᴅ, “when this place will no longer be called BIs 30:33Topheth or CJosh 15:8the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7  “I will APs 33:10, 11; Is 28:17, 18; Jer 8:8, 9make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and BLev 26:17; Deut 28:25; Jer 15:2, 9I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their CPs 79:2; Jer 16:4carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8  “I will also make this city a AJer 18:16; 49:13; 50:13desolation and an object of hissing; B1 Kin 9:8; 2 Chr 7:21everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its 1Lit blowsdisasters. 9  “I will make them ALev 26:29; Deut 28:53, 55; Is 9:20; Lam 4:10; Ezek 5:10eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.” ’

10 “Then you are to break the AJer 19:1jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Loʀᴅ of hosts, “Just so will I APs 2:9; Is 30:14; Lam 4:2; Rev 2:27break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will BJer 7:32bury in Topheth 1Or until there is no place left to burybecause there is no other place for burial. 12  “This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Loʀᴅ, “so as to make this city like Topheth. 13  “The AJer 52:13houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be B2 Kin 23:10; Ps 74:7; 79:1; Ezek 7:21, 22defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the CJer 32:29; Zeph 1:5houses on whose rooftops they burned 1Or incensesacrifices to DDeut 4:19; 2 Kin 17:16; Jer 8:2all the heavenly host and EJer 7:18; 44:18; Ezek 20:28poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Loʀᴅ had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the A2 Chr 20:5; Jer 26:2court of the Loʀᴅ’s house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have ANeh 9:17, 29; Jer 7:26; 17:23stiffened their necks so BPs 58:4as not to heed My words.’ ”