Chapter Nineteen

1–15. The command of God given to Jeremiah regarding the symbolic action he was to perform in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and his return from that valley.

Jer 19:1-15 The Lord commands the prophet to buy a clay vessel and, in the presence of several elders of Judah, to go with it to the valley of the sons of Hinnom or to Topheth. There he is to announce to Jerusalem the terrible judgment of God for the sins of its inhabitants. The valley of the sons of Hinnom will be called the valley of slaughter, and Jerusalem will be destroyed as a vessel made of clay is broken and will become a place of uncleanness. Returning from Topheth, Jeremiah in a few words repeats the prophecy he uttered at Topheth.

Jeremiah 19:1. Thus says the Lord: Go and buy a clay vessel from a potter, and take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, Jeremiah 19:2. and go out to the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which is by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you, The Potsherd Gate—the gate of potsherds. It was so called as one of the southern gates of Jerusalem because of the mass of broken pottery lying about there. Through it one could pass into the valley of the sons of Hinnom.

Jeremiah 19:3. and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place, such that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle, “O kings of Judah”—see Jer 13:13. —“This place” means the valley of Hinnom, and along with it all the land of Judah.

Jeremiah 19:4. because they have forsaken Me and have made this place strange, and they burn incense in it to other gods, which neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent “Made this place strange”—that is, defiled it. —“Blood of the innocent” means the blood of children who were sacrificed to idols (Ps 105:38).

Jeremiah 19:9. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the straits, when their enemies and those who seek their life press them hard. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, besieged by the Babylonians, ate their own children (Lam 2:20).

Jeremiah 19:13. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth, because all the houses upon whose roofs they have made offerings to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. All Jerusalem will be defiled just as the valley of Topheth will be defiled by the scattered corpses of murdered Jews.

Jeremiah 19:14. And Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord and said to all the people: There is no doubt that Jeremiah fulfilled in every detail what the Lord commanded him to do. Special remarks—see after Chapter XX.