The Broken Jar

1Thus sayde the Lorde: Go thy way and buye thee an earthen pitcher, and bryng foorth the senatours & chiefe priestes, 2Unto the valley of the children of Hennom, which lyeth without the east gate, and shewe them there the wordes that I shall tell thee. 3And say thus vnto them, Heare the worde of the Lorde ye kinges of Iuda, and ye citezins of Hierusalem, thus saith the Lorde of hoastes the God of Israel: Beholde, I wyll bryng suche a plague vpon this place, that the eares of all that heare it shall glowe: 4And that because they haue forsaken me, and vnhalowed this place, and haue offered in it vnto straunge gods, whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kynges of Iuda haue knowen: they haue filled this place also with the blood of innocentes. 5And they haue set vp an aulter vnto Baal, to burne their children for a burnt offring vnto Baal, whiche I neither commaunded nor charged them, neither thought once thervpon. 6Beholde therfore the time commeth (saith the Lorde) that this place shall no more be called Thopheth, nor the valley of the chyldren of Hennom, but the valley of slaughter. 7For in this place wyll I bryng to naught the counsayle of Iuda and Hierusalem, and kyll them downe with the sworde before their enemies: and I wyll deliuer them into the handes of them that seeke their liues, and their dead carkasses will I geue to be meate for the foules of the ayre, & the beastes of the fielde. 8And I will make this citie so desolate and despised, that whosoeuer goeth thereby shalbe abashed, and iest vpon her, because of all her plagues. 9I will feede them also with the flesh of their sonnes and their daughters, yea euery one shall eate vp another in the besieging & straytnesse wherewith their enemies that seeke their liues shall kepe them in.

10And the pitcher shalt thou breake in the sight of the men that goeth with thee, 11And say vnto them, Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes: Euen so wyll I destroy this people and citie, as a man breaketh an earthen vessell that can not be made whole agayne: in Thopheth shall they be buried, for they shall haue none other place. 12Thus wyll I do vnto this place also saith the Lorde, and to them that dwel therin, yea I wyll make this citie as Thopheth. 13For the houses of Hierusalem, and the houses of the kynges of Iuda shalbe defiled like as Thopheth, and so shal al the houses in whose roofes they did sacrifice vnto all the hoast of heauen, and powred drinke offerings vnto straunge gods.

14And so Ieremie came from Thopheth where the Lorde had sent hym to prophesie, and stoode in the court of the house of the Lorde, and spake to all the people, 15Thus saith the Lorde of hoastes the God of Israel: Beholde, I will bryng vpon this citie, and vpon euery towne about it, all the plagues that I haue deuised against them, because they haue ben obstinate, and would not obay my warninges.