Jeremiah 19

1Thus saith the Lord: Go, and take a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests:

2And go forth into the valley of the son of Ennom, which is by the entry of the earthen gate: and there thou shalt proclaim the words that I shall tell thee.

3And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O ye kings of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will bring an affliction upon this place: so that whoever shall hear it, his ears shall tingle:

4Because they have forsaken me, and have profaned this place: and have sacrificed therein to strange gods, whom neither they nor their fathers knew, nor the kings of Juda: and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents.

5And they have built the high places of Baalim, to burn their children with fire for a holocaust to Baalim: which I did not command, nor speak of, neither did it once come into my mind.

6Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom, but the valley of slaughter.

7And I will defeat the counsel of Juda and of Jerusalem in this place: and I will destroy them with the sword in the sight of their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give their carcasses to be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.

8And I will make this city an astonishent, and a hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

9And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with 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 lives shall straiten them.

10And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that shall go with thee.

11And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: even so will I break this people, and this city, as the potter’s vessel is broken, which cannot be made whole again: and they shall be buried in Topheth, because there is no other place to bury in.

12Thus will I do to this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof: and I will make this city as Topheth.

13And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of Juda shall be unclean as the place of Topheth: all the houses upon whose roots they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to strange gods.

14Then Jeremias came from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophecy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord, and said to all people:

15Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will bring in upon this city, and upon all the cities thereof all the evils that I have spoken against it: because they have hardened their necks, and they might not hear my words.

1Hæc dicit Dominus: Vade, et accipe lagunculam figuli testeam a senioribus populi et a senioribus sacerdotum,

2et egredere ad vallem filii Ennom, quæ est juxta introitum portæ fictilis: et prædicabis ibi verba quæ ego loquar ad te.

3Et dices: [Audite verbum Domini, reges Juda, et habitatores Jerusalem. Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Ecce ego inducam afflictionem super locum istum, ita ut omnis qui audierit illam, tinniant aures ejus,

4eo quod dereliquerint me, et alienum fecerint locum istum, et libaverunt in eo diis alienis quos nescierunt, ipsi et patres eorum, et reges Juda: et repleverunt locum istum sanguine innocentum,

5et ædificaverunt excelsa Baalim, ad comburendos filios suos igni in holocaustum Baalim: quæ non præcepi, nec locutus sum, nec ascenderunt in cor meum.

6Propterea ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et non vocabitur amplius locus iste Topheth, et vallis filii Ennom, sed vallis occisionis.

7Et dissipabo consilium Juda et Jerusalem in loco isto, et subvertam eos gladio in conspectu inimicorum suorum, et in manu quærentium animas eorum: et dabo cadavera eorum escam volatilibus cæli et bestiis terræ.

8Et ponam civitatem hanc in stuporem, et in sibilum: omnis qui præterierit per eam obstupescet, et sibilabit super universa plaga ejus.

9Et cibabo eos carnibus filiorum suorum et carnibus filiarum suarum: et unusquisque carnem amici sui comedet in obsidione, et in angustia in qua concludent eos inimici eorum, et qui quærunt animas eorum.]

10Et conteres lagunculam in oculis virorum qui ibunt tecum,

11et dices ad eos: [Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Sic conteram populum istum, et civitatem istam, sicut conteritur vas figuli, quod non potest ultra instaurari: et in Topheth sepelientur, eo quod non sit alius locus ad sepeliendum.

12Sic faciam loco huic, ait Dominus, et habitatoribus ejus, et ponam civitatem istam sicut Topheth.

13Et erunt domus Jerusalem, et domus regum Juda, sicut locus Topheth, immundæ, omnes domus in quarum domatibus sacrificaverunt omni militiæ cæli, et libaverunt libamina diis alienis.]

14Venit autem Jeremias de Topheth, quo miserat eum Dominus ad prophetandum, et stetit in atrio domus Domini, et dixit ad omnem populum:

15Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Ecce ego inducam super civitatem hanc, et super omnes urbes ejus, universa mala quæ locutus sum adversum eam, quoniam induraverunt cervicem suam ut non audirent sermones meos.

1Thus says the Lord: “Go, and take a potter’s earthen bottle from the elders of the people and from the elders of the priests.

2And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is near the entrance to the earthen gate, and there you shall proclaim the words that I will speak to you.

3And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead an affliction over this place, so much so that it will ring in the ears of all who hear about it.

4For they have abandoned me, and they have made this place foreign, and they have offered libations in it to foreign gods, whom neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

5And they have built the exalted places of Baal, in order to burn their children with fire as a holocaust to Baal, something that I did not instruct or speak of, nor did it enter into my heart.

6Because of this, behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7And I will scatter the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place. And I will overthrow them with the sword, in the sight of their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. And I will give their carcasses to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the land as food.

8And I will set this city amid stupor and hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be stupefied, and they will hiss over all its wounds.

9And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters. And each one of them will eat the flesh of his friend during the blockade and the embargo by which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, will enclose them.

10And you shall crush the bottle in the sight of the men who will go with you.

11And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: In the same way, I will crush this people and this city, just as the potter’s vessel was crushed and cannot be made whole again. And they will be buried at Topheth, because there will be no other place for burial.

12So will I do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the Lord. And I will make this city to be like Topheth.

13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean, just like the place of Topheth: all the houses on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the armies of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods.”

14Then Jeremiah arrived from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the atrium of the house of the Lord, and he said to all the people:

15“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will lead over this community, and over all its cities, all the evils that I have spoken against it. For they have hardened their necks, so that they would not heed my words.”