The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Jeremiah 19

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Nevi'im — the Prophets

Jeremiah chapter 19 — part of the Nevi'im — the Prophets in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “Thus said HaShem: Go, and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;” — the complete text of all 15 verses is below, free to read online.

1Thus said HaShem: Go, and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

2and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;

3and say: Hear ye the word of HaShem, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; thus saith HaShem of hosts, the G-d of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle;

4because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have offered 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;

5and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind.

6Therefore, behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter;

7and 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 hand of them that seek their life; and their carcasses will I give to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth;

8and I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof;

9and 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 in the straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall straiten them.

10Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

11and shalt say unto them: Thus saith HaShem 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 in Topheth, for want of room to bury.

12Thus will I do unto this place, saith HaShem, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth;

13and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have offered unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.

14Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither HaShem had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of HaShem'S house, and said to all the people:

15'Thus saith HaShem of hosts, the G-d 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 made their neck stiff, that they might not hear My words.'

15 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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