Jeremiah 19–22

The Broken Flask

19Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^ca potter’s earthenware ^dflask, and take some of ^ethe elders of the people and some of ^ethe elders of the priests, ²and go out ^fto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³You shall say, ^g‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^hO 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 ⁱthe ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ^4jBecause 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; ^kand because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ^5land have built the high places of Baal ^lto burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^mwhich I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶therefore, ⁿbehold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^othe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷And in this place ^pI will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^qand will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^rI will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸And I will make this city ^sa horror, ^sa thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. ^9tAnd I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^uin the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

¹⁰“Then ^vyou shall break ^wthe flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^xas one breaks a potter’s vessel, ^yso that it can never be mended. ^zMen shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹²Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^alike Topheth. ¹³The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^ball the houses on whose ^croofs offerings have been offered ^dto all the host of heaven, and ^edrink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^alike the place of Topheth.’ ”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from ^fTopheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^gand 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, ^hbecause they have stiffened their neck, ⁱrefusing to hear my words.”

Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur

20Now ^jPashhur the priest, the son of ^kImmer, who was ^lchief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²Then ^jPashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him ^min the stocks that were in the upper ⁿBenjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. ³The next day, when ^jPashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name ^jPashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you ^oa 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. ⁵Moreover, ^pI will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its ^qprized 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. ⁶And you, ^rPashhur, 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, ^sto whom you have prophesied falsely.”

⁷O Lord, ^tyou have deceived me,

and I was deceived;

^uyou are stronger than I,

and you have prevailed.

^vI have become a laughingstock all the day;

everyone mocks me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out,

I shout, ^w“Violence and destruction!”

For ^xthe word of the Lord has become for me

^ya reproach and ^yderision all day long.

⁹If I say, “I will not mention him,

or speak any more in his name,”

^zthere is in my heart as it were a burning fire

shut up in my bones,

and ^aI am weary with holding it in,

and I cannot.

^10bFor I hear many whispering.

^cTerror is on every side!

“Denounce him! ^dLet us denounce him!”

say all my ^eclose friends,

^fwatching for ^gmy fall.

“Perhaps he will be deceived;

then ^hwe can overcome him

and take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But ⁱthe Lord is with me as a dread warrior;

therefore my persecutors will stumble;

ⁱthey will not overcome me.

^jThey will be greatly shamed,

for they will not succeed.

Their ^keternal dishonor

will never be forgotten.

¹²O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,

^lwho sees the heart and the mind,¹

let me see your vengeance upon them,

for to you have I committed my cause.

^13mSing to the Lord;

praise the Lord!

For he has delivered the life of the needy

from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴ⁿCursed be the day

on which I was born!

The day when my mother bore me,

let it not be blessed!

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,

“A son is born to you,”

^omaking him very glad.

¹⁶Let that man be like ^pthe cities

that the Lord overthrew without pity;

^qlet him hear a cry in the morning

and an alarm at noon,

^17rbecause he did not kill me in the womb;

so my mother would have been my grave,

and her womb forever great.

^18sWhy did I come out from the womb

^tto see toil and sorrow,

and spend my days in shame?

Jerusalem Will Fall to Nebuchadnezzar

21This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him ^uPashhur the son of Malchiah and ^vZephaniah the priest, the son of ^wMaaseiah, saying, ^2x“Inquire of the Lord for us, ^yfor Nebuchadnezzar¹ king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to ^zall his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”

³Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ⁴‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^aBehold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. ^bAnd I will bring them together into the midst of this city. ⁵I myself will fight against you ^cwith outstretched hand and strong arm, ^din anger and in fury and in great wrath. ⁶And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷Afterward, declares the Lord, ^eI will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. ^fHe shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’

⁸“And to this people you shall say: ^g‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, ^hI set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹He who stays in this city shall die ⁱby the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and ^jsurrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live ^kand shall have his life as a prize of war. ¹⁰For ^lI have set my face against this city for harm and ^mnot for good, declares the Lord: ⁿit shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

Message to the House of David

¹¹“And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹²O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

^o“ ‘Execute justice ^pin the morning,

and deliver from the hand of the oppressor

him who has been robbed,

^qlest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

because of your evil deeds.’ ”

^13r“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,

O rock of the plain,

declares the Lord;

you who say, ^s‘Who shall come down against us,

or who shall enter our habitations?’

^14tI will punish you according to ^uthe fruit of your deeds,

declares the Lord;

^vI will kindle a fire in her forest,

^vand it shall devour all that is around her.”

22Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ²and say, ^w‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³Thus says the Lord: ^xDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^ydo no wrong or violence ^zto the resident alien, ^xthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ^ashed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will indeed obey this word, ^bthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. ⁵But if you will not obey these words, I ^cswear by myself, declares the Lord, that ^dthis house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“ ‘You are like Gilead to me,

like the summit of ^eLebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

^fan uninhabited city.¹

^7gI will prepare destroyers against you,

each with his weapons,

^hand they shall cut down your choicest cedars

and cast them into the fire.

⁸“ ‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, ⁱ“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” ^9jAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.” ’ ”

^10kWeep not for him who is dead,

nor grieve for him,

^lbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,

for he…