Jeremiah 18:12–19:15
12 But they will say, ‘It is hopeless, for we will go after our own plans, and each one of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13 “Therefore thus says Yahweh,
‘Please ask among the nations, “Who has heard ⌊the like of this⌋?”i
The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave from the cragsj of Sirion?
Or are the cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?
15 But my people have forgotten me.
They make smoke offerings to the idols,k
and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways,
to go into ⌊bypaths⌋,l not one that is built up.
16 To make their land a horror,
an object of whistling for eternity.
All who pass by it will be appalled,
and he will shake his head.
17 Like the wind from the east
I will scatter them ⌊before⌋m the enemy.
I will show them my back and not my face
in the day of their disaster.’ ”
18 Then they said, “Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from the priest, nor advice from the wise man, nor the word from the prophet. Come and ⌊let us bring charges against him⌋,n and let us not listen attentively to any of his words.”
19 Listen attentively to me, O Yahweh,
and listen to the voice of my opponents.
20 Should good be repaid in place of evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember my standing ⌊before you⌋o to speak good for them,
to avert your wrath from them.
21 ⌊Therefore⌋p give their children to the famine,
and hand them over to the ⌊power⌋q of the sword,
and let their wives be bereaved and widows,
and let their men be killed by death,
their young men struck dead
by the sword in the battle.
22 Let a cry for help be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring upon them the raiding band,
for they have dug a pit to catch me,
and they have fixed secretly a trap for my feet.
23 But you, O Yahweh, you know
⌊all their plans of assassination against me⌋.r
You must not make atonement for their iniquity,
and you must not cause their sin to be blotted out from ⌊before you⌋.s
But let them be overthrown ⌊before you⌋.t
Deal with them in the time of your anger.
19 Thus said Yahweh, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people, and some of the leaders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Gate of the Potsherd, and proclaim there the words that I speak to you. 3 And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to bring disaster upon this place so that ⌊everyone who hears it⌋,a his ears will ring. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and they have defaced this place, and they have made smoke offerings in it to other gods whom they have not known, they, nor their ancestors,b nor the kings of Judah, and they have filled up this place with the blood of the innocent, 5 and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my ⌊mind⌋.c
6 “⌊Therefore⌋d look, days are about to come,” ⌊declares⌋e Yahweh, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, ⌊but⌋f the Valley of the Slaughter. 7 And I will lay waste the plansg of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will bring them to ruin by the sword ⌊before⌋h their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and I will give their dead bodiesi as food to the birdsj of heaven and to the animalsk of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, and an object of hissing, everyone who passes by it will be appalled, and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them.” ’
10 “Then you shall break the jar before the eyes of the men who go with you. 11 And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “So I will break this people and this city as one breaks the vessel of the potter, so that it is not able to be repaired again. And in Topheth they will bury ⌊until there is no room to bury⌋.l 12 Thus will I do to this place,” ⌊declares⌋m Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, to make this city like Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean like the place of Topheth, all the houses where they made smoke offerings upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and where they poured out libations to other gods.” ’ ”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people, 15 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their neck to not hear my words.’ ”