19 Thus
saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the
ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2 And
go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of
the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And
say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of
Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears
shall tingle. 4 Because
they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, 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; 5 They
have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire
for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither
came it into my mind: 6 Therefore,
behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be
called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
slaughter. 7 And
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
hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to
be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
8
And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth
thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And 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 straitness, wherewith their
enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in
the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith
the LORD 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 them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith
the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the
houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because
of 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. 14 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither
the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's
house; and said to all the people, 15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all
the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their
necks, that they might not hear my words.