Yirmeyah 19

1 9 Thus saith Hashem, Go and acquire a yotzer’s earthen jar, and take some of the Ziknei HaAm, and of the Ziknei HaKohanim;

2 And go forth unto the Gey Ben-Hinnom, which is by the petach (entrance) of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the Devarim that I shall tell thee,

3 And say, Hear ye the Devar Hashem, O melachim of Yehudah, and inhabitants of Yerushalayim; Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, the Elohei Yisroel; Behold, I will bring ra’ah upon this makom, the which whosoever heareth, his oznayim shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken Me, and have made this an alien place, and have burned [offerings] in it unto elohim acherim, whom neither they nor avoteihem have known, nor the melachim of Yehudah, and have filled this makom with the dahm of innocents;

5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their banim with eish for olot unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into My lev;

6 Therefore, hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that this makom shall no more be called Tophet, nor Gey Ben-Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter.

7 And I will make void the etzah of Yehudah and Yerushalayim in this makom; and I will cause them to fall by the cherev before their oyevim, and by the hands of them that seek their nefesh; and their nevelah (carcasses) will I give to be food for the oph HaShomayim, and for the behemat ha’aretz.

8 And I will make this city desolate, and an object of hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the makkot (plagues) thereof.

9 And I will cause them to eat the basar of their banim and the basar of their banot, and they shall eat every one the basar of his re’a in the siege and desperation, wherewith their oyevim, and they that seek their nefesh, shall drive them to despair.

10 Then shalt thou break the earthen jar in the sight of the anashim that go with thee,

11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a yotzer’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, until there be no makom (place, room) to bury.

12 Thus will I do unto this makom, saith Hashem, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet;

13 And the batim (houses) of Yerushalayim, and the batim (houses) of the melachim of Yehudah, shall be tameh as the makom of Tophet, because of all the batim (houses) upon whose roofs they have burned ketoret unto all the Tzeva HaShomayim, and have poured out nesakhim (drink offerings) unto elohim acherim.

14 Then came Yirmeyah from Tophet, from where Hashem had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the khatzer (courtyard) of the Beis Hashem; and said to kol HaAm,

15 Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel; Hineni, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns kol hara’ah that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, that they might not hear My Devarim.

Yirmeyah 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.