1Thus says the LORD, “Go and buy a potter's clay jar, and take along with you some of the elders of the people, and of the priests.
2And go out into the valley of the son of Hinnom, by the entrance of the east gate, and proclaim these words that I tell you there,
3And say, “Hear the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, you kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Behold, I will bring such disaster upon this place, that the ears of whoever hears it shall tingle.
4Because they have forsaken Me, and have made this a place for false gods, and have burned incense in it to these foreign gods, that neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah, have known, and they have also filled this place with the blood of innocents.
5They have also built the high places where they burn their sons in the fires as burned offerings to Baal, which I never commanded, spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind”:
6So beware, the days come, says the LORD, that this place shall no more be called “Topheth”, nor “The valley of the Son of Hinnom”, but “The Valley of Slaughter”.
7And I will undo the plans of Judah and Jerusalem; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives; and I will give their carcasses to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the beasts of the earth.
8And I will make this city desolate, and an object of scorn; everyone who passes by it shall be appalled and gasp because of all its plagues.
9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and of their friends when trapped by the siege of their enemies, who seek their lives.
10That is when you shall break the clay jar in the sight of the men that went with you,
11And you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts; ‘Even so will I smash this people and this city, like smashing this clay jar, that can never be repaired again; and they shall bury the dead in Topheth, until there is room to bury.
12Thus is what I will do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the LORD, and will make this city just like Topheth:
13And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled like the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
14Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where 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“This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will bring upon this city and all her villages all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because they have hardened their hearts, and would not hear My words.’” Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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