Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Shattering a Clay Jar

19 Thus said Adonai: “Go, buy a potter’s clay jar, take some elders of the people, some elders of the kohanim, ² and go out to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words that I will tell you, ³ and say, “Hear the word of Adonai, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: ‘I am about to bring such a catastrophe on this place that whoever hears about it, his ears will tingle. ⁴ For they have forsaken Me and have alienated this place, by burning sacrifices in it to other gods, which neither they nor their forefathers, nor the kings of Judah have known. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocents. ⁵ They have built high places for Baal, in order to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal—something I never commanded, nor mentioned, nor did it ever come into My mind.’”

⁶ “Therefore behold, the days are coming”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“when this place will no longer be called Topheth or The Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ So I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will have them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of them that seek their life. I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city a horror and a hissing—every one passing by will be stunned and hiss because of all her wounds. ⁹ And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone will eat his companion’s flesh during the siege and distress, which their enemies and those who seek their life will inflict on them.

¹⁰ “Then you will shatter the jar in the presence of the people who accompany you, ¹¹ and say to them, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: ‘Even so I will shatter this people and this city, as one shatters a potter’s jar, which can never be made whole again. So they will be burying in Topheth, for there will be no other place to bury.’”

¹² “Thus I will do to this place”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and to its inhabitants, making this city as Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be as defiled as the place Topheth—all the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to the whole heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Adonai had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Adonai’s House, and said to all the people, ¹⁵ thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “I am about to bring on this city and on all her towns the whole disaster that I pronounced against it, because they stiffened their neck, rather than hearing My words.”

¹¹ And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her,^[a] because no one buys their merchandise anymore— ¹² shipments of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of citron wood; all kinds of ivory products; all kinds of products made of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble; ¹³ cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; and slaves—that is, human souls.

¹⁵ The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, shall stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, ¹⁶ saying,

And every ship captain and passenger, sailors and all who make their living at sea, stood at a distance ¹⁸ and were crying out, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ ¹⁹ And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning,