Jeremiah 19
1 Then said the Lord to me, Go and get
an earthen bottle, the work of the potter, and thou shalt bring
some of the elders of the people, and of the priests;
2 and thou shalt go forth to the
burial-place of the sons of their children, which is at the entrance of the
gate of Charsith; and do thou read there all these words which I shall speak
to thee: 3 and thou shalt say to them,
Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and men of Juda, and the
dwellers in Jerusalem, and they that enter in by these gates; thus saith the
Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place, so that the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle.
4 Because they forsook me, and
profaned this place, and burnt incense in it to strange gods, which they and
their fathers knew not; and the kings of Juda have filled this place with
innocent blood, 5 and built high
places for Baal, to burn their children in the fire, which things I commanded
not, neither did I design them in my heart:
6 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when this place shall no more be called, The fall and
burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter.
7 And I will destroy the counsel of
Juda and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cast them down
with the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their
lives: and I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and
to the wild beasts of the earth. 8 And
I will bring this city to desolation and make it a
hissing; every one that passes by it shall scowl, and hiss because of all her
plague. 9 And they shall eat the flesh
of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one
the flesh of his neighbour in the blockade, and in the siege wherewith their
enemies shall besiege them.
10 And thou shalt break the bottle in
the sight of the men that go forth with thee,
11 and thou shalt say, Thus saith the
Lord, Thus will I break in pieces this people, and this city, even as an
earthen vessel is broken in pieces which cannot be mended again.
12 Thus will I do, saith the Lord, to
this place, and to the inhabitants of it, that this city may be given up, as
one that is falling to ruin. 13 And
the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda shall be as a
ruinous place, because of their uncleannesses in all the houses, wherein they
burnt incense upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and poured
drink-offerings to strange gods.
14 And Jeremiah came from
the place of the Fall, 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, Thus saith the Lord;
15 Behold, I bring upon this city,
and upon all the cities belonging to it, and upon the villages of it, all the
evils which I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their neck,
that they might not hearken to my commands.