1Thus said Jehovah , Go , and buy a potter ’s earthen bottle , 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 gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee ; 3and say , Hear ye 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 , which whosoever heareth , his ears shall tingle . 4Because they have forsaken me , and have estranged this place , and have burned incense in it unto other gods, that they knew not , they and their fathers and the kings of Judah , and have filled this place with the blood of innocents , 5and have built the high places of Baal , to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal ; which I commanded not , nor spake it , neither came it into my mind : 6therefore , behold , the days come , saith Jehovah , that this place shall no more be called Topheth , nor The 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 dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens , and for the beasts of the earth . 8And I will make this city an astonishment , and a hissing ; every one that passeth thereby 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 every one the flesh of his friend , in the siege and in the distress , wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life , shall distress them . 10Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee ,
The Prophecy Against Judah
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 , even making this city as Topheth : 13and the houses of Jerusalem , and the houses of the kings of Judah , which are defiled , shall be as the place of Topheth , even 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. 14Then came Jeremiah 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 its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it ; because they have made their neck stiff , that they may not hear my words .