Jeremiah 19

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then Yahweh said to Jeremiah, 'Go and buy a potter's earthenware jug. Take some of the people'selders and some of the senior priests with you.	1 Thus said the LORD: Go, buy a potter's earthen flask. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests,
2 Go out towards the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, just outside the Gate of the Potsherds. There proclaim thewords I shall say to you.	2 and go out toward the Valley of Ben-hinnom, at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate; there proclaim the words which I will speak to you:
3 You must say, "Kings of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem! Listen to the word of Yahweh! YahwehSabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: I am about to bring such a disaster on this place that the ears of every onewho hears of it wil ring.	3 Listen to the word of the LORD, kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such evil upon this place that all who hear of it will feel their ears tingle.
4 For they have abandoned me and have made this place unrecognisable, and offered incense here toother gods which neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew before. They have fil ed thisplace with the blood of the innocent;	4 This is because they have forsaken me and alienated this place by burning in it incense to strange gods which neither they nor their fathers knew; and the kings of Judah have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.
5 for they have built high places for Baal to burn their sons as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing I neverordered, never mentioned, that had never entered my thoughts.	5 They have built high places for Baal to immolate their sons in fire as holocausts to Baal: such a thing as I neither commanded nor spoke of, nor did it ever enter my mind.
6 So now the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer cal this place Topheth, orVal ey of Ben-Hinnom, but Val ey of Slaughter.	6 Therefore, days will come, says the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather, the Valley of Slaughter.
7 Because of this place, I shall empty Judah and Jerusalem of sound advice; I shall make them fall bythe sword before their enemies, by the hand of those determined to kil them; I shal give their corpses as food tothe birds of the sky and the animals of earth.	7 In this place I will foil the plan of Judah and Jerusalem; I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those that seek their lives. Their corpses I will give as food to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.
8 And I shal make this city an object of horror and derision; every passer-by will be appal ed at it andwhistle at the sight of al the wounds it has sustained.	8 I will make this city an object of amazement and derision. Because of all its wounds, every passer-by will be amazed and will catch his breath.
9 I shal make them eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters: they wil eat one another during thesiege, in the shortage to which their enemies, and those determined to kil them, will reduce them."	9 I will have them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters; they shall eat one another's flesh during the strict siege by which their enemies and those who seek their lives will confine them.
10 'You must break this jug in front of the men who are with you,	10 And you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who went with you,
11 and say to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I am going to break this people and this city just as onebreaks a potter's pot, so that it can never be mended again. "Topheth wil become a burial ground, for lack ofother burial space.	11 and say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Thus will I smash this people and this city, as one smashes a clay pot so that it cannot be repaired. And Topheth shall be a burial place, for lack of place to bury elsewhere.
12 That is how I shal treat this place, Yahweh declares, and its inhabitants, by making this city likeTopheth.	12 Thus I will do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the LORD; I will make this city like Topheth.
13 The houses of Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah, al the houses on the roofs of which theyoffered incense to the whole array of heaven and poured libations to other gods, wil be unclean, like this placeTopheth." '	13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the palaces of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth, all the houses upon whose roofs they burnt incense to the whole host of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods.
14 Jeremiah then came back from Topheth where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and stood in thecourt of the Temple of Yahweh and said to al the people,	14 When Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the house of God and said to all the people:
15 'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, "Yes, on this city, and on all the towns belonging to it, Ishall bring all the disaster which I had decreed for it, since they have stubbornly refused to listen to my words." '	15 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I will surely bring upon this city all the evil with which I threatened it, because they have stiffened their necks and have not obeyed my words.