- Jeremiah 19 (Contemporary English Version)
- The LORD said: Jeremiah, go to the pottery shop and buy a clay jar. Then take along some of the city officials and leading priests
- and go to Hinnom Valley, just outside Potsherd Gate. Tell the people that I have said:
- I am the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and you kings of Judah and you people of Jerusalem had better pay attention. I am going to bring so much trouble on this valley that everyone who hears about it will be shocked.
- The people of Judah stopped worshiping me and made this valley into a place of worship for Baal and other gods that have never helped them or their ancestors or their kings. And they have committed murder here, burning their young, innocent children as sacrifices to Baal. I have never even thought of telling you to do that.
- (SEE 19:4)
- So watch out! Someday this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. It will be called Slaughter Valley!
- You people of Judah and Jerusalem may have big plans, but here in this valley I'll ruin those plans. I'll let your enemies kill you, and I'll tell the birds and wild animals to eat your dead bodies.
- I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, and every passerby will be shocked and horrified and will make insulting remarks.
- And while your enemies are trying to break through your city walls to kill you, the food supply will run out. You will become so hungry that you will eat the flesh of your friends and even of your own children.
- Jeremiah, as soon as you have said this, smash the jar while the people are watching.
- Then tell them that I have also said: I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I warn you that I will shatter Judah and Jerusalem just like this jar that is broken beyond repair. You will bury your dead here in Topheth, but so many of you will die that there won't be enough room.
- I will make Jerusalem as unclean as Topheth, by filling the city with your dead bodies. I will do this because you and your kings have gone up to the roofs of your houses and burned incense to the stars in the sky, as though they were gods. And you have given sacrifices of wine to foreign gods.
- (SEE 19:12)
- I went to Topheth, where I told the people what the LORD had said. Then I went to the temple courtyard and shouted to the people,
- "Listen, everyone! Some time ago, the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, warned you that he would bring disaster on Jerusalem and all nearby villages. But you were stubborn and refused to listen. Now the LORD is going to bring the disaster he promised."
Jeremiah was directed by God to deliver a direct and unadorned message to the leaders and people of Jerusalem and Judah using imagery. He was to take elders of the people and elders of the priests out with him to the Valley of Hinnom just outside the Potsherd Gate of the city to deliver this message from the Lord. In advance he was to buy a potter's clay jug to use for this occasion. The message Jeremiah was to deliver was this: "This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder." (19:3) Three reasons were given for this disaster: They abandoned God, they burned incense to other gods, and they filled the place with the blood of the innocent, namely they sacrificed their own children as burnt offerings to Baal. (19:4-5)
Having delivered this message, Jeremiah was to then imprint it on their minds through imagery. Taking the clay jug he had bought, he was to shatter it before them and say: "This is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place left to bury." (19:11) When Jeremiah had delivered God's message to the leaders at the Valley of Hinnom, he went back into the city and went directly to the temple where he gave much the same message to the people gathered there.
The tone of this message to Judah was immanent and final. Having heard the message and given it heed, I would have expected to see the enemy army arriving the next day. However, the fact that a message was given Judah at all suggests that there was yet a chance to repent and turn away the disaster. In earlier chapters of Jeremiah God stated that He had given up on Judah because she was so ingrained in her sin that she was not capable of repentance, but the opportunity for repentance remained open right up to the time of the disaster. The same is true for everyone. Regardless of the nature of our sin, our opportunity to repent, and God's willingness to receive us, remain open until death closes our window of opportunity.
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