Warning of the Broken Flask

1Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen flask, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

2And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you,

3And say, Hear you the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring such evil upon this place, that whosoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle.

4Because they have forsaken me, and have profaned this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

5They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:

6Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

7And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

8And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing; everyone that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall distress them.

10Then shall you break the flask in the sight of the men that go with you,

11And shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

12Thus will I do unto this place, says the LORD, and to its inhabitants, and even make this city as Topheth:

13And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled like the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

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

15Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.