¹² They served idols, ^(A)concerning which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³ Yet the ^(B)Lord warned Israel and Judah ^[a](C)through all His prophets and ^(D)every seer, saying, “^(E)Turn back from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes in accordance with all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you ^[b]through My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ However, they did not listen, but ^(F)stiffened their neck ^[c]like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ^15 (G)They rejected His statutes and ^(H)His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings which He ^[d]gave them. And ^(I)they followed ^[e]idols and ^(J)became empty, and followed the nations that surrounded them, about which the ^(K)Lord had commanded them not to do as they did. ¹⁶ And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast metal images: ^(L)two calves. And they ^(M)made an ^[f]Asherah, and ^(N)worshiped all the heavenly ^[g]lights, and ^(O)served Baal. ¹⁷ Then ^(P)they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and they ^(Q)practiced divination and interpreting omens, and ^(R)gave themselves over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. ¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He ^(S)removed them from His ^[h]sight; ^(T)no one was left except the tribe of Judah.

¹⁵ “But you ^(A)trusted in your beauty and ^(B)became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your ^[a]obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes, made for yourself ^[b]high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful ^[c](C)jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them. ¹⁸ Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(D)My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, ^[d]you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God. ²⁰ “Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ^(E)Me and ^(F)sacrificed them to ^[e]idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter? ²¹ You slaughtered ^(G)My children and offered them to ^[f]idols by ^(H)making them pass through the fire. ²² And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of ^(I)your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

³⁶ Moreover, the Lord said to me, “Son of man, will you ^(A)judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then ^(B)declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. So they have committed adultery with their idols, and even made their sons, ^(C)whom they bore to Me, pass through the fire to ^[a]them as food. ³⁸ Again, they have done this to Me: they have ^(D)defiled My sanctuary on the same day, and have ^(E)profaned My Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My ^(F)sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and behold, this is what they did within My house.

The Broken Jar

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a ^(A)potter’s earthenware ^(B)jar, and take some of the ^(C)elders of the people and some of the ^[a](D)senior priests. ² Then go out to the ^(E)Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the ^[b]Potsherd Gate, and ^(F)proclaim there the words that I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you ^(G)kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a ^(H)disaster upon this place, at which the ^(I)ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. ⁴ Since they have ^(J)abandoned Me and have ^(K)made this place foreign, and have burned ^[c]sacrifices in it to ^(L)other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the ^(M)blood of the innocent ⁵ and have built the ^(N)high places of Baal to burn their ^(O)sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My ^[d]mind; ⁶ therefore, behold, ^(P)days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called ^(Q)Topheth or ^(R)the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter.