New International Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
1This is what the LORD says: "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests | 1This is what the LORD says: "Go, buy a potter's clay jar. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests |
2and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, | 2and go out to the Valley of Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you. |
3and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. | 3Say: Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder |
4For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. | 4because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. |
5They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. | 5They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought. |
6So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. | 6"Therefore, take note! The days are coming"--this is the LORD's declaration--"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. |
7"'In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals. | 7I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land. |
8I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds. | 8I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds. |
9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.' | 9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the siege and distress that their enemies, those who want to take their life, inflict on them. |
10"Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, | 10"Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people traveling with you, |
11and say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. | 11and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials. |
12This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth. | 12I will do so to this place"--this is the declaration of the LORD--"and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. |
13The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth--all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.'" | 13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth--all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to the whole heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods." |
14Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD's temple and said to all the people, | 14Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the LORD's temple, and proclaimed to all the people, |
15"This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.'" | 15"This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I am about to bring on this city--and on all its dependent villages--all the disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying My words.'" |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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