Jeremiah 19

1 The Lord saith these things, Go thou, and take an earthen(ware) pottle of a potter, [and] (some) of the elder men of the people, and of the elder men of the priests. (The Lord saith these things, Go thou, and take the clay jar of a potter, and some of the elders of the people, and some of the elders of the priests.)

2 And go thou out to the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which is beside the entering of the earthen gate (And go thou out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is before, or in front of, the entrance to the Potsherd Gate); and there thou shalt preach the words which I shall speak to thee;

3 and thou shalt say, Kings of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, hear ye the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in torment on this place, so that each man that heareth it, his ears tingle. (and thou shalt say, Kings of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, hear ye the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in torment upon this place, so that each person who heareth about it, their ears shall tingle.)

4 For they have forsaken me, and made alien this place, and offered sacrifices to alien gods therein, which they, and the fathers of them, and the kings of Judah, knew not; and they filled this place with the blood of innocents, (For they have deserted me, and made this place strange, or foreign, to me, and offered sacrifices to strange, or foreign, gods there, which they, and their forefathers, and the kings of Judah, did not know; and they filled this place with the blood of innocents,)

5 and builded high things to Baalim, to burn their sons in fire, into burnt sacrifice to Baalim (and built the high places, or the hill shrines, to Baal, to burn their children in the fire, for burnt sacrifices to Baal); which things I commanded not, neither spake, neither those (things) ascended into mine heart.

6 Therefore the Lord saith, Lo! days shall come, and this place shall no more be called Tophet, and the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaying. (And so the Lord saith, Lo! days shall come, and this place shall no longer be called Tophet, and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.)

7 And I shall destroy the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place, and I shall destroy them by sword, in the sight of their enemies, and in the hand of men seeking the lives of them; and I shall give their dead bodies to be meat to the birds of the air, and to [the] beasts of (the) earth. (And I shall destroy the plans of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place, and I shall destroy them by the sword, before their enemies, and by the hands, or the power, of those who seek their lives; and I shall give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.)

8 And I shall set this city into wondering, and into hissing; each that passeth by it, shall wonder, and hiss on all the vengeance thereof (each person who passeth by it, shall wonder and shall hiss at all the vengeance there).

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 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.