Jeremiah 19:10

10 [The LORD says,] "Then smash the jar in front of the men who went with you.

Jeremiah 19:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 19:10

Then shall thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that
go with thee.
] The earthen bottle he was bid to get of the potter, ( Jeremiah 19:1 ) ; this he is ordered to break in pieces before the eyes of the ancients of and of the priests that went with him out Jerusalem to Tophet, as an emblem of the easy, sure, and utter destruction of Jerusalem; for nothing is more easily broken than an earthen vessel; and so easily was Jerusalem destroyed by the Chaldean army; nor can an earthen pot resist any force that is used against it; nor could the inhabitants of Jerusalem withstand the force of Nebuchadnezzar's army; and an earthen vessel once broken cannot be put together again; a new one must be made; which was the case both of the city and temple; and which, upon the return from the captivity, were not repaired, but rebuilt.

Jeremiah 19:10 In-Context

8 I will devastate this city. It will become something to hiss at. Everyone who goes by it will be stunned and hiss with contempt at all the disasters that happen to it.

9 I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other's flesh during blockades and hardships that their enemies impose on them when they want to kill them."

10 [The LORD says,] "Then smash the jar in front of the men who went with you.

11 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD of Armies says: I will smash these people and this city as this potter's jar was smashed beyond repair. They will bury [the dead] in Topheth until there's no other place to bury them.

12 That's what I will do to this place and to those who live in it, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.