Old Testament Commentary - Jeremiah 19

by Don R. Hender


Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
           CHAPTER 19            

The Lord will bring evil upon Judah—They sacrificed their children to Baal—In the siege they shall eat the flesh of thier sons and daughters.

  1 THUS saith the LORD, Go and get a apotter's earthen bottle, and take of the bancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priestsa;
  2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of aHinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
  3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall atingle.
 1a the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests This being the 'elders' of the people, the great Sanhedrin princes of the people and the 'elders' of the priests or the rulers of the priests including the Chief High Priest, ruler of the great Sanhedrin, means that Jeremiah gathers out the ruling princes of Judah to witness his message before the eastern gate in the valley of Hinnom just below the entrance to the temple there. This by the way is that same perspective Jesus would have from the mount of olives looking across the Hinnon valley to the east gate of the temple when he would think how often he would have gathered Israel if they would be gathered, but they would not.
  4 Because they have aforsaken me, and have bestranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other cgods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the dblood of innocents;
  5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with afire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
  6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called aTophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
  7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their acarcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
  8 And I will make this city adesolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the bplagues thereof.
  9 And I will cause them to aeat the flesh of their sons and the bflesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall cstraiten them.
  10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
  11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
  12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
  13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose aroofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
  14 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,
  15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
 1a Ezek. 26:3
 2a Jer. 21:10; Jer. 38:3; Jer. 52:13
 3a TG Israel, Bondage of, in
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