TRV
Translation
King James Version
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.
KJV (with Strong's)
And shalt say H559 unto them, Thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635; Even so H3602 will I break H7665 this people H5971 and this city H5892, as one breaketh H7665 a potter's H3335 vessel H3627, that cannot H3201 be made whole again H7495: and they shall bury H6912 them in Tophet H8612, till there be no place H4725 to bury H6912.
Complete Jewish Bible
and say to them, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter's vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else].
Berean Standard Bible
and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.
American Standard Version
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.
World English Bible Messianic
and shall tell them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.
Geneva Bible (1599)
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.
Young's Literal Translation
and hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Thus do I break this people and this city, as one breaketh the potter's vessel, that is not able to be repaired again, and in Tophet they bury--without place to bury;
See also
In the KJVVerse 19,419 of 31,102
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Commentary on Jeremiah 19 verses 10–15
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.
The message of wrath delivered in the foregoing verses is here enforced, that it might gain credit, two ways: -
I. By a visible sign. The prophet was to take along with him an earthen bottle (Jer 19:1), and, when he had delivered his message, he was to break the bottle to pieces (Jer 19:10), and the same that were auditors of the sermon must be spectators of the sign. He had compared this people, in the chapter before, to the potter's clay, which is easily marred in the making. But some might say, "It is past that with us; we have been made and hardened long since." "And what though you be," says he, "the potter's vessel is as soon broken in the hand of any man as the vessel while it is soft clay is marred in the potter's hand, and its case is, in this respect, much worse, that the vessel while it is soft clay, though it be marred, may be moulded again, but, after it is hardened, when it is broken it can never be pieced again." Perhaps what they see will affect them more than what they only hear talk of; that is the intention of sacramental signs, and teaching by symbols was anciently used. In the explication of this sign he must inculcate what he had before said, with a further reference to the place where this was done, in the valley of Tophet. 1. As the bottle was easily, irresistibly, and irrecoverably broken by the Chaldean army, Jer 19:11. They depended much upon the firmness of their constitution, and the fixedness of their courage, which they thought hardened them like a vessel of brass; but the prophet shows that all that did but harden them like a vessel of earth, which, though hard, is brittle and sooner broken than that which is not so hard. Though they were made vessels of honour, still they were vessels of earth, and so they shall be made to know if they dishonour God and themselves, and serve not the purposes for which they were made. It is God himself, who made them, that resolves to unmake them: I will break this people and this city, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel; the doom of the heathen (Psa 2:9, Rev 2:27), but now Jerusalem's doom, Isa 30:14. A potter's vessel, when once broken, cannot be made whole again, cannot be cured, so the word is. The ruin of Jerusalem shall be an utter ruin; no hand can repair it but his that broke it; and if they return to him, though he has torn, he will heal. 2. This was done in Tolphet, to signify two things: - (1.) That Tophet should be the receptacle of the slain: They shall bury in Tophet till there be no place to bury any more there; they shall jostle for room to lay their dead, and a very little room will then serve those who, while they lived, laid house to house and field to field. Those that would be placed alone in the midst of the earth while they were above ground, and obliged all about them to keep their distance, must lie with the multitude when they are underground, for there are innumerable before them. (2.) That Tophet should be a resemblance of the whole city (Jer 19:12): I will make this city as Tophet. As they had filled the valley of Tophet with the slain which they sacrificed to their idols, so God will fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to the justice of God. We read (Kg2 23:10) of Josiah's defiling Tophet, because it had been abused to idolatry, which he did (as should seem, Jer 19:14) by filling it with the bones of men; and, whatever it was before, thenceforward it was looked upon as a detestable place. Dead carcases, and other filth of the city, were carried thither, and a fire was continually kept there for the burning of it. This was the posture of that valley when Jeremiah was sent thither to prophesy; and so execrable a place was it looked upon to be that, in the language of our Saviour's time, hell was called, in allusion to it, Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom. "Now" (says God) "since that blessed reformation, when Tophet was defiled, did not proceed as it ought to have done, nor prove a thorough reformation, but though the idols in Tophet were abolished and made odious those in Jerusalem remained, therefore will I do with the city as Josiah did by Tophet, fill it with the bodies of men, and make it a heap of rubbish." Even the houses of Jerusalem, and those of the kings of Judah, the royal palaces not excepted, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet (Jer 19:13), and for the same reason, because of the idolatries that have been committed there; since they will not defile them by a reformation, God will defile them by a destruction, because upon the roofs of their houses they have burnt incense unto the host of heaven. The flat roofs of their houses were sometimes used by devout people as convenient places for prayer (Act 10:9), and by idolaters they were used as high places, on which they sacrificed to strange gods, especially to the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, that there they might be so much nearer to them and have a clearer and fuller view of them. We read of those that worshipped the host of heaven upon the house-tops (Zep 1:5), and of altars on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, Kg2 23:12. This sin upon the house-tops brought a curse into the house, which consumed it, and made it a dunghill like Tophet.
II. By a solemn recognition and ratification of what he had said in the court of the Lord's house, Jer 19:14, Jer 19:15. The prophet returned from Tophet to the temple, which stood upon the hill over that valley, and there confirmed, and probably repeated, what he had said in the valley of Tophet, for the benefit of those who had not heard it; what he had said he would stand to. Here, as often before, he both assures them of judgments coming upon them and assigns the cause of them, which was their sin. Both these are here put together in a little compass, with a reference to all that had gone before. 1. The accomplishment of the prophecies is here the judgment threatened. The people flattered themselves with a conceit that God would be better than his word, that the threatening was but to frighten them and keep them in awe a little; but the prophet tells them that they deceive themselves if they think so: For thus saith the Lord of hosts, who is able to make his words good, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns, all the smaller cities that belong to Jerusalem the metropolis, all the evil that I have pronounced against it. Note, Whatever men may think to the contrary, the executions of Providence will fully answer the predictions of the word, and God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the scripture makes him; nor shall the unbelief of men make either his promises or his threatenings of no effect or of less effect than they were thought to be of. 2. The contempt of the prophecies is here the sin charged upon them, as the procuring cause of this judgment. It is because they have hardened their necks, and would not bow and bend them to the yoke of God's commands, would not hear my words, that is, would not heed them and yield obedience to them. Note, The obstinacy of sinners in their sinful ways is altogether their own fault; if their necks are hardened, it is their own act and deed, they have hardened them; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their own ears. We have need therefore to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart and contempt of his word and commandments.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 10–15. Public domain.
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Origen of AlexandriaAD 253
FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 31
The apostle also knows vessels of wrath “made for destruction so that he might make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.” God has divided all people into these two vessels, those of wrath, those of mercy, those like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, those like Paul and those who have believed. But what is the treasury of the Lord in which are the vessels of wrath? Perhaps it is the church, in which such often go unnoticed. But there will be a time when he opens the church. For now they have been shut up, and the vessels of wrath share space with the vessels of mercy, and the chaff are with the wheat. In one net are the worthless and the chosen fish. The Lord opens up his treasury in the time of the judgment, when the vessels of wrath are thrown out. He who is a vessel of mercy may reasonably say, “They have gone out from us, for they were not from us.” Outside the treasury the vessels who sin are not yet the vessels of wrath, but inferior. For they are servants who did not know the will of their Lord and did not do it. So they are vessels who are simply kept for other purposes.
JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Jeremiah
(Verse 10, 11.) And you shall break the jar in the eyes of the men who go or come with you. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So shall I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be restored any longer. Clearly it is spoken not of the Babylonian, but of the Roman captivity. For after the Babylonians, the city was rebuilt, the people brought back to Judah, and the former abundance restored. But after the captivity, which happened under Vespasian and Titus, and later under Hadrian, the ruins of Jerusalem will remain until the end of the world, although the Jews believe that golden and jeweled Jerusalem will be restored to them, and again there will be sacrifices and holy marriages and the kingdom of the Lord Savior on earth. Although we may not follow these beliefs, we cannot condemn them, because many ecclesiastical men and martyrs have spoken of these things. And let each one abound in his own sense, and let all things be reserved for the judgment of the Lord (Rom. XIV). However, just as a clay vessel, once it has been broken, cannot be restored to its former appearance: so too the people of the Jews and Jerusalem, once they have been destroyed, will not have their former condition. Finally, today the name of that city is empty, and it is called Aelia by Aelius Hadrianus, and it has lost its former name along with its former inhabitants, in order to destroy their pride. However, the names of the Holy Cross and Resurrection do not signify a city, but a place: nor the former greatness of riches, by which the Jewish people perished, but the glory of sanctity, which our humble Bethlehem possesses, not having gold and gems, but the bread that was born in it.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Notice here “the rod of direction” that is described. “You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity.” Draw near to that “rod.” Let Christ be your King: let him rule you with that rod, not crush you with it. For that rod is “a rod of iron,” an inflexible rod. “You shall rule them with a rod of iron and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Some he rules; others he “breaks in pieces.” He “rules” those who are spiritual; he “breaks in pieces” those who are concerned about earthly desires.… Would he so loudly declare that he was about to strike you if he really wanted to strike you? He is, then, holding back his hand from the punishment of your offenses; but you dare not hold back. Turn around and face the punishment for your offenses, for there can be no unpunished offenses. Punishment therefore must be executed either by you or by him. You should plead guilty then in order that he may grant you a reprieve. - "Expositions of the Psalms 45.16"
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 19:11 delivers a profound and chilling prophecy of irreversible divine judgment against the people of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Through the vivid and visceral imagery of a potter's vessel violently shattered beyond any hope of repair, the Lord of hosts declares His unyielding intent to utterly demolish His covenant people and their capital. This devastating decree culminates in the gruesome detail that the sheer magnitude of death would overwhelm the land, leading to mass burials in Tophet, a site already defiled by their abhorrent idolatry, until no space remained for the dead.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 19:11 is rich with powerful literary devices that amplify its message of impending doom and divine judgment. The most prominent is Simile, where God's breaking of "this people and this city" is directly compared to "as one breaketh a potter's vessel." This comparison is not merely illustrative but deeply symbolic, drawing on the common biblical motif of God as the Potter and humanity as the clay (Jeremiah 18:6). The shattering of the vessel symbolizes God's sovereign right and power to undo what He has made when it becomes corrupted and unusable for His divine purposes. The specific mention of Tophet serves as potent Symbolism and Metonymy. Tophet, a place of abhorrent child sacrifice and profound sin, becomes a symbol of Judah's deep apostasy and simultaneously the very location where the horrific consequences of that sin will be graphically manifested through mass burials. The phrase "till there be no place to bury" employs Hyperbole, an exaggeration used not for literal accuracy but to convey the immense, overwhelming scale of death and destruction, impressing upon the audience the utter devastation that awaits them. The entire prophetic act, culminating in this verse, is a Dramatic Prophetic Act, a visual sermon designed to shock, warn, and underscore the certainty of God's judgment.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 19:11 stands as a stark testament to God's unwavering holiness and justice, demonstrating unequivocally that His patience with persistent sin has limits. The visceral imagery of the broken vessel underscores a profound theological truth: God, as the sovereign Creator and Master Potter, possesses the absolute right and power to shape, break, and remake nations according to His righteous will. When His chosen people repeatedly reject His covenant, engage in egregious idolatry, and descend into moral depravity, He will bring about severe, even seemingly irreparable, judgment. This passage serves as a sobering reminder that while God is merciful and long-suffering, He is also a consuming fire, and His justice is an essential, non-negotiable aspect of His character, ensuring that sin does not go unpunished indefinitely. It highlights the principle that divine judgment, though often delayed by His grace, is certain for those who refuse to repent and persist in rebellion against His holy commands.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 19:11, while a chilling prophecy rooted in ancient judgment, offers profound and timeless lessons for contemporary believers and societies. It serves as a powerful reminder of the profound seriousness of sin, especially persistent rebellion against God's revealed will and His covenant. God's patience is indeed immense, but it is not infinite; there comes a point where divine justice, a necessary outflow of His holiness, must be enacted. This sobering truth should prompt us to humbly examine our own lives, our families, and our communities, asking if there are areas where we are stubbornly resisting God's commands, embracing "idols" that compete for His rightful place in our hearts, or tolerating practices that grieve His Spirit. The verse also underscores the vital importance of heeding God's warnings, whether delivered through the clear instruction of Scripture, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or the prophetic voices He raises. Just as Judah tragically ignored Jeremiah's urgent pleas, we too can become deaf to divine guidance, leading to spiritual barrenness and sometimes tangible, devastating consequences. Ultimately, this passage calls us to a posture of sincere repentance, deep humility, and unwavering obedience, recognizing God's absolute sovereignty and His just character, while simultaneously embracing the profound truth that His ultimate desire is always for our restoration and flourishing, not our destruction, if we turn to Him with contrite hearts.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did God use such a violent and seemingly irreversible image of a broken potter's vessel?
Answer: God used the image of a shattered potter's vessel to convey the absolute finality and comprehensiveness of the judgment He was bringing upon Judah and Jerusalem. In ancient times, a broken clay pot could not be easily repaired or reused; it was discarded as worthless. This vivid imagery powerfully communicated that the destruction would be so complete that the nation, as it existed in its current rebellious state, would be beyond repair in its existing form. It was a visual and symbolic act, designed to shock the audience into understanding the severity of their persistent sin and the certainty of divine wrath. It underscored that their deep-seated idolatry and rebellion had reached a point of no return, necessitating a complete dismantling before any future restoration could occur, a principle God had previously illustrated with the potter's ability to reshape or discard clay based on its response (Jeremiah 18:1-10).
What is the significance of "Tophet" in this prophecy?
Answer: Tophet was a specific, notorious location within the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (Gehinnom), just outside Jerusalem. It was infamous as the primary site where the people of Judah had engaged in the abhorrent practice of sacrificing their children to the pagan god Molech (Jeremiah 7:31). By prophesying that the dead would be buried in Tophet until there was no more room, God was declaring that the very place of their most egregious and detestable sin would become the site of their most devastating judgment. It was a grim poetic justice, a direct and horrifying consequence of their apostasy. Later Jewish tradition associated Gehinnom (Valley of of Hinnom) with eternal punishment, making it a symbolic precursor to the concept of hell or ultimate judgment.
Does God still "break" nations or individuals today in a similar way?
Answer: While the specific, dramatic, and physical judgment on ancient Judah was unique to their covenant relationship and historical context, the underlying principle of divine judgment for persistent sin remains eternally true. God's character of holiness and justice is unchanging. Today, God's "breaking" often manifests not as a literal shattering of pottery, but through the natural, spiritual, and societal consequences of unrepentant sin, leading to moral decay, internal strife, spiritual barrenness, or the removal of His blessing and protection. For individuals, unrepentant sin ultimately leads to spiritual death and separation from God (Romans 6:23). For nations, it can lead to societal collapse, internal division, and external pressures. However, it is crucial to remember that God's ultimate desire is always for repentance and restoration, as seen in His immense patience and the gracious offer of salvation through Christ (2 Peter 3:9).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 19:11, with its pronouncement of irreversible judgment and the imagery of a shattered vessel, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment not in the physical breaking of a nation, but in the spiritual breaking and subsequent making whole through Jesus Christ. Humanity, like the unfaithful Judah, was a "vessel" marred by sin, incapable of being "made whole again" by its own efforts, leading inevitably to divine judgment and spiritual death (Romans 3:23). Yet, in a stunning and glorious reversal, God Himself, in the person of Jesus, became the ultimate "broken vessel" on the cross. Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, was "broken" for our transgressions, enduring the full wrath and judgment of God that humanity deserved (Isaiah 53:5). His sacrificial death in our place was the ultimate act of divine judgment against sin, satisfying the demands of justice so that all who believe might be "made whole again" and reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through His glorious resurrection, Christ demonstrates God's power not just to break, but to create new life and a new creation, offering spiritual restoration and eternal life to all who trust in Him, transforming shattered lives into vessels of honor fit for the Master's use (Ephesians 2:10). The "no place to bury" in Tophet grimly foreshadows the ultimate fate of those who reject God's gracious offer in Christ, while for believers, there is the glorious promise of resurrection and eternal dwelling in God's presence, far removed from the valley of judgment (John 5:24).