1 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Commander}: “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware bottle, and take some elders {ziknei: community leaders} of the people and of the priests.”
2 And you shall go out to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom {hinnom: valley south of Jerusalem} at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate {shaar: city gate}, and you shall proclaim there the words that I will speak to you.
3 And you shall say, “Hear the word of the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Commander}, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Warrior}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Protector}: Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place so that everyone who hears about it—his ears {oznav: hearing organs} will tingle.”
4 Because they have forsaken Me {YHWH, Righteous Judge} and have estranged this place, burning incense here to other gods that neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah had known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent {neqiyyim: guiltless victims}.
5 And they built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} did not command {tziviti: authoritative command}, nor did I speak, nor did it enter my heart.
6 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth {ha-tophet: place of burning} or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.”
7 I {YHWH, Judge of Nations} will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place and will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their corpses as food to the birds of the sky {shamayim: celestial realm} and to the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make this city a desolation {shammah: wasted ruin} and a hissing {shereqah: symbol of scorn}; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and will hiss at all its wounds.
9 And I {YHWH, Judicial Avenger} will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each man will eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress {matzok: extreme anguish}, which their enemies and those seeking their life will inflict upon them.
10 And you shall break the bottle {bakbuk: narrow-necked vessel} before the eyes {einei: public witness} of the men who are going with you.
11 And you shall say to them, "Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Warrior}: 'So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be repaired again, and in Topheth {Topheth: ritual burning site} they will bury for lack of a place to bury.'"
12 Thus I will do to this place, declares the LORD {YHWH, Judge and Speaker}, and to its inhabitants {yošəḇāw: those who dwell in it}, and I will make this city like Topheth.
13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah — all the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to the host of the heavens, and poured out drink offerings to other gods{elohim: false deities} — will be defiled like the place of Topheth{tofet: idolatrous sacrifice site}.
14 And Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD {YHWH, Sender of Prophecy} had sent him to prophesy {lehinave: divine message}; and he stood in the court of the house of the LORD and said to all the people.
15 Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tseva’ot, Commander of Armies}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisra’el, National Protector}: Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster {hara’ah: distressful judgment} that I have spoken against her, because they have hardened their neck {orpam: stubborn resistance} so as not to listen to My words.