3
and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thussays the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon thisplace, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.
4
"Because* they have forsaken Me and have madethis an alienplace and have burnedsacrifices in it to othergods, that neither they nor their forefathersnor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filledthisplace with the blood of the innocent
5
and have built the highplaces of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burntofferings to Baal, a thing which I nevercommanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;
6
therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when thisplace will nolonger be calledTopheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom*, but rather* the valley of Slaughter.
7
"I will makevoid the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in thisplace, and I will cause them to fall by the swordbefore their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
9
"I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eatoneanother'sflesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them."'
11
and say to them, 'Thussays the LORD of hosts, "Justso will I breakthispeople and thiscity, even as one breaks a potter'svessel, whichcannot*again be repaired; and they will bury in Tophethbecausethere is no other place for burial.
13
"The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the placeTopheth, because of all the houses on whoserooftops they burnedsacrifices to all the heavenlyhost and poured out drinkofferings to othergods.""'
15
"Thussays the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am about to bring on thiscity and all its towns the entirecalamity that I have declaredagainst it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.' "