The Broken Flask

Jeremiah 19

1 Thus says the Lord, "Go, buy c a potter's earthenware d flask, and take some of e the elders of the people and some of e the elders of the priests, 2 and go out f to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, g 'Hear the word of the Lord, h O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that i the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 j Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; k and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 l and have built the high places of Baal l to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, m which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind - 6 therefore, n behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or o the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place p I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, q and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. r I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city s a horror, s a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 t And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor u in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'

10 "Then v you shall break w the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, x as one breaks a potter's vessel, y so that it can never be mended. z Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city a like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah - b all the houses on whose c roofs offerings have been offered d to all the host of heaven, and e drink offerings have been poured out to other gods - shall be defiled a like the place of Topheth.'"

14 Then Jeremiah came from f Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, g and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: 15 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, h because they have stiffened their neck, i refusing to hear my words."

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 18:2
    "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:10
    Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you.
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:2
    And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
    2 Kings 23:1
    Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
    Ezekiel 8:1
    In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
  4. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:2
    And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
    2 Kings 23:1
    Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
    Ezekiel 8:1
    In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
  5. Cross References
    Joshua 15:8
    Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite ( that is, Jerusalem). And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 17:20
    And say: 'Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 13:13
    Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord : Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
  8. Cross References
    1 Samuel 3:11
    Then the Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
    2 Kings 21:12
    Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:16
    And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
  10. Cross References
    2 Kings 21:16
    Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
    Jeremiah 2:34
    Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things
  11. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:31
    And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
    Jeremiah 32:35
    They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
    Leviticus 18:21
    You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
  12. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:31
    And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
    Jeremiah 32:35
    They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
    Leviticus 18:21
    You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:31
    And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
    Jeremiah 32:35
    They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
    Deuteronomy 17:3
    And has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden.
  14. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:32
    Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:2
    And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:3
    And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers.
  17. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:17
    I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:33
    And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 18:16
    Making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 18:16
    Making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
  21. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:29
    You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you s...
    Deuteronomy 28:53
    And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the f...
    Isaiah 9:20
    They slice meat on the right, but are still hun...
    Lamentations 2:20
    Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt...
    Lamentations 4:10
    The hands of compassionate women have boiled th...
    Ezekiel 5:10
    Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your ...
  22. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:53
    And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
    Deuteronomy 28:55
    So that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.
    Deuteronomy 28:57
    Her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 51:63 - 64
    When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:1
    Thus says the Lord, "Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
  25. Cross References
    Psalms 2:9
    You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
    Isaiah 30:14
    And its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.
    Lamentations 4:2
    The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!
  26. Cross References
    Proverbs 6:15
    Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:32
    Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.
  28. Cross References
    2 Kings 23:10
    And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.
  29. Cross References
    Jeremiah 32:29
    The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
    Jeremiah 44:18
    But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.
    2 Kings 23:12
    And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
    Zephaniah 1:5
    Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom.
  30. Cross References
    2 Samuel 11:2
    It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
  31. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 4:19
    And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
    Acts 7:42
    But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "'Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
  32. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:18
    The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
    Jeremiah 44:18
    But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.
  33. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:12
    Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.
  34. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:2 - 3
    And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.
  35. Cross References
    Jeremiah 26:2
    Thus says the Lord : Stand in the court of the Lord 's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word.
    2 Chronicles 20:5
    And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court.
  36. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:26
    Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
    2 Chronicles 30:8
    Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
  37. Cross References
    Jeremiah 25:3
    For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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