The Sign of the Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. ² And go out to ^(A)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, ^3 (B)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 will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will ^(C)tingle.

⁴ “Because they ^(D)have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with ^(E)the blood of the innocents ^5 (F)(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, ^(G)which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind), ⁶ therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or ^(H)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, ^(I)and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their ^(J)corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸ I will make this city ^(K)desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. ⁹ And I will cause them to eat the ^(L)flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’

^10 (M)“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(N)“Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be ^[a]made whole again; and they shall ^(O)bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. ¹² Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. ¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled ^(P)like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose ^(Q)roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and ^(R)poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in ^(S)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 will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because ^(T)they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ”

The Word of God to Pashhur

20 Now ^(U)Pashhur the son of ^(V)Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. ² Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high ^(W)gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

³ And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but ^[b]Magor-Missabib. ⁴ For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will ^(X)give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword. ⁵ Moreover I ^(Y)will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and ^(Z)carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have ^(AA)prophesied lies.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Unpopular Ministry

Daniel and His Friends Obey God^(A)

1 In the third year of the reign of ^(B)Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with ^(C)some of the articles of ^[a]the house of God, which he carried ^(D)into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; ^(E)and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.

³ Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring ^(F)some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, ⁴ young men ^(G)in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and ^(H)whom they might teach the language and ^[b]literature of the Chaldeans. ⁵ And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might ^(I)serve before the king. ⁶ Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ^7 (J)To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: ^(K)he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.

⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself ^(L)with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ⁹ Now ^(M)God had brought Daniel into the favor and ^[c]goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. ¹⁰ And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.”

¹¹ So Daniel said to ^[d]the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” ¹⁴ So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.

¹⁵ And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. ¹⁶ Thus ^[e]the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

¹⁷ As for these four young men, ^(N)God gave them ^(O)knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had ^(P)understanding in all visions and dreams.

¹⁸ Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ Then the king ^[f]interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore ^(Q)they served before the king. ^20 (R)And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. ^21 (S)Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.