Jeremiah 19:13

13 The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burned to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods - they will all be as unclean as Topheth."

Jeremiah 19:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 19:13

And the houses of Jerusalem
Where the common people dwelt: and the houses of the kings of Judah;
the palaces of the king, princes, and nobles of Judah, one as well as another: shall be defiled os Tophet;
as that was defiled with the bodies and bones of the slain, and with the faith of the city brought unto it; so the houses of great and small, high and low, should be defiled with the carcasses of the slain that should lie unburied there; their houses should be their graves, and they buried in the ruins of them: or, "the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled" F19, with the idolatries after mentioned, shall be as Tophet, places of slaughter: because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense to
all the host of heaven;
the roofs of houses with the Jews were built flat; and, as they sometimes used them for prayer to the God of heaven, as Peter did, ( Acts 10:9 ) ; idolaters used them to burn incense on to the sun, moon, and stars; to which they were nearer, and of which they could have a clearer view upon the house tops, and therefore chose them for this purpose; and so common was this sort of idolatry, that it was practised upon most, if not all, the houses in Jerusalem; see ( Zephaniah 1:5 ) ; and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods;
besides the God of Israel; to Baal, and other Heathen deities.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Myamjh) "quae pollutae sunt", Gataker.

Jeremiah 19:13 In-Context

11 and to tell them that the Lord Almighty had said, "I will break this people and this city, and it will be like this broken clay jar that cannot be put together again. People will bury their dead even in Topheth because there will be nowhere else to bury them.
12 I promise that I will make this city and its inhabitants like Topheth.
13 The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burned to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods - they will all be as unclean as Topheth."
14 Then I left Topheth, where the Lord had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people
15 that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.