Jeremiah 19

1 Thus hath the LORD said, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;

2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry by the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.

3 Therefore thou shalt say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place; and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

5 and have built high places unto Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto this same Baal, which I did not command, nor speak, neither did it come into my mind.

6 Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of the slaughter.

7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those that seek their souls and I will give their carcasses to be food for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

8 And I will make this city desolate and a hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those that seek their souls shall straiten them.

10 Then thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

11 and shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be restored again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, for there shall be no other place to bury.

12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to its inhabitants and even make this city as Tophet:

13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet, defiled, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heaven and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

14 Then Jeremiah returned from Tophet, 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 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said: Behold, I bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have spoken against her because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my words.

Jeremiah 19 Commentary

Chapter 19

By the type of breaking an earthen vessel, Jeremiah is to predict the destruction of Judah.

Verses 1-9 The prophet must give notice of ruin coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it. That place which holiness made the joy of the whole earth, sin made the reproach and shame of the whole earth. There is no fleeing from God's justice, but by fleeing to his mercy.

Verses 10-15 The potter's vessel, after it is hardened, can never be pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain sacrificed to their idols, so will God fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think, God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways, is their own fault; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 19

In this chapter is foreshadowed, represented, and confirmed, the destruction of Jerusalem, by the breaking of a potter's vessel the prophet had in his hand; and by the place where he was bid to do this, and did it. The order for it, and the witnesses of it, and the place where it was done, are declared in Jer 19:1,2; the proclamation there of Jerusalem's ruin is made, Jer 19:3; the cause of it, their apostasy, idolatry, and shedding of innocent blood, Jer 19:4,5; the great slaughter of them by the sword and famine, Jer 19:6-9; and how easy, and irresistible, and irrecoverable, their destruction would be, are signified by the breaking of the bottle, Jer 19:10,11, when Jerusalem for its idolatry would become as defiled a place as Tophet, where the prophet was, Jer 19:12,13; from whence he came to the temple, and there repeated the proclamation of the evil that should come upon that city, and all the towns around it, Jer 19:14,15.