Jeremiah 19:9-15

9 And I shall feed them with the fleshes of their sons, and with the fleshes of their daughters; and each man shall eat the fleshes of his friend in the besieging and anguish, in which the enemies of them, and they that seek the lives of them, shall close them together. (And I shall feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the flesh of their daughters; and each person shall eat the flesh of his friend in the besieging and in the anguish, in which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, shall altogether enclose them.)

10 And thou shalt all-break the pottle before the eyes of the men, that shall go with thee. (And thou shalt break the jar in pieces, before those who shall go with thee.)

11 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts saith these things, So I shall all-break this people, and this city, as the vessel of a potter is all-broken, which may no more be restored; and they shall be buried in Tophet, for none other place is to bury. (And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts saith these things, So I shall break this people all in pieces, and this city, like this potter's vessel is broken all in pieces, which cannot be restored; and they shall be buried in Tophet, for there is no other place left for burying them.)

12 So I shall do to this place, saith the Lord, and to dwellers thereof, that I set this city as Tophet. (So shall I do to this place, saith the Lord, and to its inhabitants, so that I make this city like Tophet.)

13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet; all the unclean houses, in whose roofs they sacrificed to all the chivalry of heaven, and offered moist sacrifices to alien gods. (And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be made like Tophet; yea, all the unclean houses, on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and offered wine offerings to strange, or foreign, gods.)

14 Forsooth Jeremy came from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him for to prophesy; and he stood in the porch of the house of the Lord, and said to all the people, (And Jeremiah came in from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the courtyard of the House of the Lord, and said to all the people,)

15 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in on this city, and on all the cities thereof, all the evils which I spake against it; for they made hard their noll, (so) that they heard not my words (for they stiffened their necks, or were stubborn, and did not listen to, or obey, my words).

Jeremiah 19:9-15 Meaning and Commentary

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.