¶ Moreover, thus said the LORD unto Ieremy. Go thy way, and buy thee an earthen pitcher, and bring forth the Senators, and the chief priests in to the valley of the children of Hennom, which lieth before the port that is made of brick, and shew them there the words, that I shall tell thee, and say thus unto them: Hear the word of the LORD, ye kings of Iudah, and ye citizens of Ierusalem: Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring such a plague upon this place, that the ears of all that hear it, shall glow. And that because they have forsaken me, and unhallowed this place, and have offered in it unto strange gods: whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Iudah have known. They have filled this place also with the blood of innocents, for they have set up an altar unto Baal, to burn their children for a burntoffering unto Baal, which I neither commanded, nor charged them, neither thought once thereupon. Behold therefore, the time cometh (sayeth the LORD) that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the children of Hennom, but the valley of slaughter. For in this place will I slay the Senators of Iuda and Ierusalem, and kill them down with the sword in the sight of their enemies, and of them that seek their lives. And their dead carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the air, and beasts of the field. And I will make this city so desolate, and despised: that whoso goeth thereby, shall be abashed and jest upon her, because of all her plagues. I will feed them also with the flesh of their sons and their daughters. Yea every one shall eat up another in the besieging and straightness, wherewith their enemies (that seek their lives) shall keep them in.
¶ And the pitcher shalt thou break in the sight of the men, that shall be with thee, and say unto them: Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: Even so will I destroy this people and city: as a Potter breaketh a vessel, that can not be made whole again. In Topheth shall they be buried, for they shall have none other place. Thus will I do unto this place also, sayeth the LORD, and to them that dwell therein: yea I will do to this city as unto Topheth. For the houses of Ierusalem, and the houses of the kings of Iudah are defiled, like as Topheth, because of all the houses, in whose parlors they did sacrifice unto all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto strange gods. And so Ieremy came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the house of the LORD, and spake to all the people: Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon every town about it, all the plagues that I have devised against them: for they have been obstinate, and would not obey my warnings.