Jeremiah 19KJV
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Jeremiah19

King James Version · Public Domain

1Thus 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;

2And 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,

3And 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.

4Because 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;

5They 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:

6Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 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 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.

8And 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.

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 straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, 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 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 Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

12Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Topheth:

13And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Topheth, 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.

14Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, 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,

15Thus 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.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jeremiah 19.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: By the type of breaking an earthen vessel, Jeremiah is to predict the destruction of Judah. (1-15).

vv1-9

The prophet must give notice of ruin coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it. That place which holiness made the joy of the whole earth, sin made the reproach and shame of the whole earth. There is no fleeing from God's justice, but by fleeing to his mercy.

vv10-15

The potter's vessel, after it is hardened, can never be pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain sacrificed to their idols, so will God fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think, God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways, is their own fault; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments.

Cross References

Jeremiah 19
v31 Samuel 3:11thematic

Textual idiom where catastrophic judgment causes the ears of everyone who hears it to tingle.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v32 Kings 21:12thematic

Identical phrasing used of Jerusalem's destruction under Manasseh, whose sins are judged here.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Jeremiah 7:31thematic

Parallel indictment of burning children to Baal/Molech in Topheth, which God commanded not.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

Fulfillment of the covenant curse where parents eat the flesh of their own children.

Supported by JFB

v11Psalms 2:9allusion

Echoes the Messianic and divine authority to shatter rebellious nations like a potter's vessel.

Supported by JFB

v1Jeremiah 18:2-4thematic

Calvin contrasts this completed vessel's irreversible breaking with the malleable clay of chapter 18.

Supported by John Calvin

v2Joshua 15:8thematic

Provides the geographical origin of the valley of Hinnom as a boundary in Joshua.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Jeremiah 32:35thematic

Repeats the condemnation of building high places of Baal to sacrifice children in Hinnom.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v62 Kings 23:10thematic

Historical account of King Josiah defiling Topheth in Hinnom to end child sacrifice.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v11Isaiah 30:14thematic

Parallels the breaking of a potter's vessel so completely that no useful shred remains.

Supported by JFB

v7Jeremiah 7:33thematic

Identical threat of unburied carcasses becoming food for birds and wild beasts.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v11Jeremiah 51:63typology

Another symbolic action of throwing a book/stone to represent irreversible civic destruction.

Supported by JFB

v13Zephaniah 1:5thematic

Condemns the specific practice of worshipping the host of heaven on house roofs.

Supported by JFB

Identifies the court of the Lord's house as the primary public gathering place.

Supported by JFB