Jeremiah 19-20

English Standard Version

The Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^(A)a potter's earthenware ^(B)flask, and take some of ^(C)the elders of the people and some of ^(D)the elders of the priests, ² and go out ^(E)to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³ You shall say, ^(F)‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^(G)O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ^(H)the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ^4 (I)Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^(J)and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ^5 (K)and have built the high places of Baal ^(L)to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^(M)which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶ therefore, ^(N)behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^(O)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And in this place ^(P)I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^(Q)and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^(R)I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city ^(S)a horror, ^(T)a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. ^9 (U)And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^(V)in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

¹⁰ “Then ^(W)you shall break ^(X)the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹ and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^(Y)as one breaks a potter's vessel, ^(Z)so that it can never be mended. ^(AA)Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹² Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^(AB)like Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^(AC)all the houses on whose ^(AD)roofs offerings have been offered ^(AE)to all the host of heaven, and ^(AF)drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^(AG)like the place of Topheth.’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from ^(AH)Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^(AI)and he stood in the court 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 bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^(AJ)because they have stiffened their neck, ^(AK)refusing to hear my words.”

Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur

20 Now ^(AL)Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(AM)Immer, who was ^(AN)chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ² Then ^(AO)Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him ^(AP)in the stocks that were in the upper ^(AQ)Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. ³ The next day, when ^(AR)Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name ^(AS)Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴ For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you ^(AT)a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. ⁵ Moreover, ^(AU)I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its ^(AV)prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, ^(AW)Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, ^(AX)to whom you have prophesied falsely.”