“1 Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and
[take] of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the
priests; 2 And 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 thee, 3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah,
and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever
heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and
have estranged 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; 5 They
have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire
[for] burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake [it],
neither came [it] into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The
valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And 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 carcases will I give to be meat
for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I
will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth
thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of
their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in
the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek
their lives, shall straiten them.”
“10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go
with thee, 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Even so will I break this people and this city, as [one] breaketh a
potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury
[them] in Tophet, till [there be] no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do
unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and
[even] make this city as Tophet: 13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the
houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet,
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. 14 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him
to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to
all the people, 15 Thus saith 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.” (Jeremiah 19:1-15 AV)