English · ASV

Jeremiah 19

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Judgment Proclaimed in the Valley of Hinnom 1–9

1
Thus 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; ​
2
and 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; ​
3
and 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.
4
Because 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, ​
5
and 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: ​
6
therefore, 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. ​
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 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. ​
8
And 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.
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 in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them. ​

The Symbol of the Broken Jar 10–13

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 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. ​
12
Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth:
13
and 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. ​

Final Prophecy in the Temple Court 14–15

14
Then 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: ​
15
Thus 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. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 19

Verse 1

a potter's earthen bottle — Baqbuq, a flask named for the gurgle of its pouring and formed from baqaq, 'to pour out', the verb of 'make void' in v.7. Where the potter of 18:4 made the spoiled clay 'again another vessel', this one is already fired, and what is broken 'cannot be made whole again' (v.11).

Verse 2

the valley of the son of Hinnom — A gorge (gay') on the border line that ran 'unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem' (Josh 15:8). Josiah defiled Topheth there 'that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech' (2 Kgs 23:10). The 'east gate' is charsuth, named from the word for a potsherd.

Verse 4

the blood of innocents — Naqi, the guiltless. Manasseh 'shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another' (2 Kgs 21:16), and for it 'the LORD would not pardon' (2 Kgs 24:4). The sons and daughters offered to the idols of Canaan are called innocent blood in Ps 106:37–38.

Verse 5

which I commanded not — Three denials: not commanded, not spoken, and 'neither came it into my mind' (lev, the heart). 'Burnt offerings' is olah, the whole burnt offering of Lev 1, here given to Baal with sons as the victims, the abomination of Deut 12:31: 'their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.'

Verse 6

The valley of slaughter — The renaming already given in Jer 7:32, where the reason follows: 'they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.' 'Slaughter' is hareghah, the word of 'the day of slaughter' (Jer 12:3). Isa 30:33 had said that 'Tophet is ordained of old'.

Verse 7

make void the counsel — Baqaq, to empty out, is the root of the flask's name (v.1): Judah's counsel is poured out as the vessel will be (v.10). The LORD 'bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought' (Ps 33:10), and here he does so to Judah's. The carcases given to fowls and beasts repeat Deut 28:26 and Jer 7:33.

Verse 9

the flesh of their sons — The covenant curse of Lev 26:29 and Deut 28:53, 'in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee'; the two Hebrew words (matsor, matsoq) are the same here. Lam 4:10 records the fulfilment: 'The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children.'

Verse 11

cannot be made whole again — Rapha, the common verb 'to heal', here of a fired vessel, which cannot be mended as the clay in the potter's hand was remade (18:4). The image is that of Ps 2:9, 'like a potter's vessel', echoed in Rev 2:27. Tophet becomes a burial ground 'till there be no place to bury'.

Verse 13

upon whose roofs — Incense to 'the host of heaven' was burned 'upon the housetops' (Zeph 1:5; Jer 32:29). Josiah had beaten down the altars 'on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz' (2 Kgs 23:12). The houses of the kings are named with the rest: all 'shall be defiled as the place of Tophet'.

Verse 14

the court of the LORD'S house — The message given in the valley is repeated 'to all the people' in the temple court, the place where Jeremiah is later told to 'speak unto all the cities of Judah' (26:2). In the next chapter Pashur, 'chief governor in the house of the LORD', hears these words and has him put in the stocks (20:1–2).

Verse 15

hardened their necks — Qashah, to be hard, with oreph, the nape of the neck: the neck that will not bend. The same charge stands in Jer 7:26, 'they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck', and in 17:23. The 'evil' they will not hear is the one announced in v.3: 'I will bring evil upon this place'.