they, and their chieftains, men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be 26 established for ever. And there shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the environs of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the hill country, and from the south, persons bringing burntofferings, and sacrifices, and meatofferings, and incense, and bringing offerings of praise, unto the house of JEHOVAH. 27 But if ye will not hearken unto me, to keep holy the sabbath day, and not to carry any burden, and go through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be extinguished.

2

CHAP. XVIII.

THE WORD WHICH CAME TO JEREMIAH FROM JEHO VAH, SAYING,

ARISE and go down to the potter's house, and 3 there I will cause thee to hear my words. So I went down to the potter's house, and behold he 4 was at work upon the stones. And the vessel which he was making of clay was marred by the hand of the potter; and he began anew, and made it another vessel, as it seemed meet to the potter 5 to make. Then came the word of JEHOVAH UNto me, saying,

6

CANNOT I do after the manner of this potter With respect to you, O house of Israel? saith JE

HOVAH.

Behold as the clay is at the disposal of the potter, So are ye at my disposal, O house of Israel. 7 Whensoever I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom,

Of plucking up, casting down, and destroying; 8 And that natión concerning which I have spoken shall turn from its wickedness;

I also will repent of the evil which I proposed to

do unto it.

9 And whensover I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom,

Of building up and of planting;

10 And it shall do that which is evil in my sight, and not hearken unto my voice:

11

I also will repent of the good which I said I
would do for its benefit.

AND now speak, I pray thee, unto the men of
Judah,

And unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith JEHOVAH;

Behold I imagine evil against you,

And devise against you a device;

Return ye now every man from his evil way,
And amend your ways and your doings.

12 But they said, It is a thing not to be hoped :
For after our own imaginations will we go,
And we will practise every one the lust of his
evil heart.

13 Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH;

Enquire now among the nations,

Who hath heard such things as these?

The virgin of Israel hath practised lewdness in a very high degree.

14 Will the snow leave Lebanon before any rock of the field?

Will men dig for strange waters perversely in preference to such as flow?

15 But my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity ;

And paths of ancient use have caused them to stumble in their ways,

Whilst they walk in paths of a road not thrown up: 16 Making their land an object of astonishment, of perpetual hissing;

Every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall shake his head.

17 Like an east wind will I scatter them before the face of an enemy;

18

19

I will turn my back to them, and not my face, in the day of their destruction.

THEN said they, Come and let us devise measures against Jeremiah for the law shall not fail from the priest, nor counsel from the wise man, nor the word from the prophet: Come and let us smite him on the tongue, and let us not regard any of his words.

GIVE heed unto me, O JEHOVAH,

And listen to the voice of my adversaries, 20, Shall evil be rendered for good?

Surely they have digged a pit for my soul.
Remember how I have stood before thee,
To intercede for their welfare,

To turn away

thine anger from them..

21 Therefore give thou up their sons unto famine,

And drain them by means of the sword; Let their women be childless and widows, And let their men be killed by pestilence, Their young men slain by the sword in battle. 22 Let an outcry be heard from their houses, When thou shalt bring a troop upon them suddenly;

Because they have digged a pit to catch me,
And snares have they privily laid for my feet.

23 But thou, O JEHOVAH, hast known

Their whole counsel against my life:

Accept no atonement for their iniquity,
And blot not out their sin from before thee?
But let them be overthrown in thy presence;
In the time of thy wrath proceed against them.

1

CHAP. XIX.

THUS said JEHOVAH unto me; Go and get thee a potter's earthen vessel, and some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests. 2 And thou shalt go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which lieth before the gate Harsith, and shalt proclaim there the words which I 3 shall speak unto thee. And thou shalt say, Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O ye kings of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I am about to bring evil upon this place, which who4 soever heareth, both his ears shall ring: because they have deserted me, and have alienated this place, and have burned incense in it to strange gods, whom they have not known; they and their fathers, and the kings of Judah; and have filled 5 this place with the blood of innocents: and have

erected the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burntofferings to Baal; which I enjoined not, nor commanded, nor was it accepta6 ble unto me. Therefore behold the days are coming, saith JEHOVAH, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, or. The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. For I will defeat the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the

hand of them that seek their lives; and their dead bodies will I give for meat unto the fowls of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth : 8 And I will make this city an object of astonishment and of hissing: every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss because of all 9 its plagues. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his companion during the siege and the distress, with which their enemies and those that seek their lives 10 shall straiten them. Then shalt thou break the

vessel in the sight of the men that go with thee; 11 and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith JEHO VAH of hosts: So will I break this people and this city as he breaketh the potter's vessel, which cannot be made whole again: and men shall bury in Topheth, until there be no room to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith JEHOVAH, and to the inhabitants thereof, even so as to make 13 this city like Topheth. And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place Topheth, unclean; together with all the houses, on the roofs of which they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, pouring out also oblations unto strange gods. 14 AND Jeremiah came from Topheth, whither JEHOVAH had sent him to prophesy; and stood in the court of the house of JEHOVAH, and said 15 to all the people, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts,

the God of Israel; Behold I am about to bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, all the evil which I have denounced against it; because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hearken to my words.