Chapter 19

The Broken Jar

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a apotter’s earthenware bjar, and take some of the celders of the people and some of the 1dsenior priests.

2 “Then go out to the avalley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and bproclaim there the words that I tell you,

3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O akings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a bcalamity upon this place, at which the cears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.

4 “Because they have aforsaken Me and have bmade this an alien place and have burned 1sacrifices in it to cother gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the dblood of the innocent

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

6 therefore, behold, adays are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called bTopheth or cthe valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.

7 “I will amake void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and bI 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 ccarcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

8 “I will also make this city a adesolation and an object of hissing; beveryone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its 1disasters.

9 “I will make them aeat 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 ajar in the sight of the men who accompany you

11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I abreak this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bbury in Topheth 1because 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 ahouses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be bdefiled like the place Topheth, because of all the chouses on whose rooftops they burned 1sacrifices to dall the heavenly host and epoured 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 acourt 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 astiffened their necks so bas not to heed My words.’ ”

Chapter 27

The Nations to Submit to Nebuchadnezzar

1 In the beginning of the reign of 1aZedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying—

2 thus says the Lord to me—“Make for yourself abonds and byokes and put them on your neck,

3 and send 1word to the king of aEdom, to the king of aMoab, to the king of the sons of aAmmon, to the king of aTyre and to the king of aSidon 2by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

4 “Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters,

5 “aI have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth bby My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will cgive it to the one who is 1pleasing in My sight.

6 “Now I ahave given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, bMy servant, and I have given him also the cwild animals of the field to serve him.

7 “aAll the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson buntil the time of his own land comes; then cmany nations and great kings will 1make him their servant.

8 “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which awill not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the bsword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed 1it by his hand.

9 “But as for you, ado not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your 1dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

10 “For they prophesy a alie to you in order to bremove you far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish.

11 “But the nation which will abring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will blet remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.” ’ ”

12 I spoke words like all these to aZedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

13 “Why will you adie, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 “So ado not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a blie to you;

15 for aI have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they bprophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may cdrive you out and that you may perish, dyou and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the avessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a blie to you.

17 “Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city abecome a ruin?

18 “But aif they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now bentreat the Lord of hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.

19 “For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the apillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he acarried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

21 “Yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,

22 ‘They will be acarried to Babylon and they will be there until the bday I visit them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will cbring them 1back and restore them to this place.’ ”

Chapter 28

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

1 Now in the same year, ain the beginning of the reign of bZedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, cHananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from dGibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying,

2 “aThus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 ‘Within two years I am going to bring back to this place aall the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.

4 ‘I am aalso going to bring back to this place bJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the cexiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the dyoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who were standing in the ahouse of the Lord,

6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “aAmen! May …