Jeremiah 19:7-12

7 "I will 1make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and 2I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their 3carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
8 "I will also make this city a 4desolation and an object of hissing; 5everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters.
9 "I will make them 6eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them."'
10 "Then you are to break the 7jar in the sight of the men who accompany * you
11 and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I 8break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot * again be repaired; and they will 9bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.
12 "This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants," declares the LORD, "so as to make this city like Topheth.

Jeremiah 19:7-12 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.

Cross References 9

  • 1. Psalms 33:10, 11; Isaiah 28:17, 18; Jeremiah 8:8, 9
  • 2. Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:25; Jeremiah 15:2, 9
  • 3. Psalms 79:2; Jeremiah 16:4
  • 4. Jeremiah 18:16; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 50:13
  • 5. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 7:21
  • 6. Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53, 55; Isaiah 9:20; Lamentations 4:10; Ezekiel 5:10
  • 7. Jeremiah 19:1
  • 8. Psalms 2:9; Isaiah 30:14; Lamentations 4:2; Revelation 2:27
  • 9. Jeremiah 7:32

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit "blows"
  • [b]. Or "until there is no place" left "to bury"
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