Jeremiah 19:5-15

5 and have built the ¹high places of Baal to burn their ²sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;

6 therefore, behold, ³days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this place will no longer be called ⁴Topheth or ⁵the valley of Ben-hinnom *, but rather * the valley of Slaughter.

7 "I will ⁶make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and ⁷I 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 ⁸carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

8 "I will also make this city a ⁹desolation and an object of hissing; ¹⁰everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters.

9 "I will make them ¹¹eat 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 ¹²jar in the sight of the men who accompany * you

11 and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I ¹³break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot * again be repaired; and they will ¹⁴bury 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.

13 "The ¹⁵houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ¹⁶defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the ¹⁷houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to ¹⁸all the heavenly host and ¹⁹poured out drink offerings to other gods.""'

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where * the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the ²⁰court of the LORD'S house and said to all the people:

15 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have ²¹stiffened their necks so ²²as not to heed My words.' "

Jeremiah 19:5-15 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 22:41; Jeremiah 32:35
• 2. Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 17:17; Psalms 106:37, 38
• 3. Jeremiah 7:32
• 4. Isaiah 30:33
• 5. Joshua 15:8
• 6. Psalms 33:10, 11; Isaiah 28:17, 18; Jeremiah 8:8, 9
• 7. Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:25; Jeremiah 15:2, 9
• 8. Psalms 79:2; Jeremiah 16:4
• 9. Jeremiah 18:16; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 50:13
• 10. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 7:21
• 11. Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53, 55; Isaiah 9:20; Lamentations 4:10; Ezekiel 5:10
• 12. Jeremiah 19:1
• 13. Psalms 2:9; Isaiah 30:14; Lamentations 4:2; Revelation 2:27
• 14. Jeremiah 7:32
• 15. Jeremiah 52:13
• 16. 2 Kings 23:10; Psalms 74:7; Psalms 79:1; Ezekiel 7:21, 22
• 17. Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5
• 18. Deuteronomy 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16; Jeremiah 8:2
• 19. Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:18; Ezekiel 20:28
• 20. 2 Chronicles 20:5; Jeremiah 26:2
• 21. Nehemiah 9:17, 29; Jeremiah 7:26; Jeremiah 17:23
• 22. Psalms 58:4

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "heart"
• [b] Lit "blows"
• [c] Or "until there is no place" left "to bury"
• [d] Or "incense"