1እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ “ሄደህ፣ ከሸክላ ሠሪ ገንቦ ግዛ፤ ከሕዝቡና ከካህናቱ መካከል ታላላቅ የሆኑትን አንዳንዶቹን ይዘህ፣ 2በገል በር መግቢያ አጠገብ ወዳለው ወደ ሄኖም ልጅ ሸለቆ ውጣ። በዚያም የምነግርህን ቃል ተናገር፤ 3እንዲህም በል፤ ‘የይሁዳ ነገሥታትና በኢየሩሳሌም የምትኖሩ ሆይ፤ የእግዚአብሔርን ቃል ስሙ፤ የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ “ለሰሚው ሁሉ ጆሮ የሚዘገንን ክፉ ነገር እነሆ በዚህ ስፍራ አመጣለሁ፤ 4እኔን ትተውኝ፣ ይህን ስፍራ የባዕድ አማልክት ቦታ አድርገውታልና። እነርሱም ሆኑ አባቶቻቸው፣ የይሁዳ ነገሥታትም ለማያውቋቸው አማልክት ሠውተዋል፤ ይህንም ስፍራ በንጹሓን ደም ሞልተውታል፤ 5እኔም ያላዘዝኋቸውን፣ ያልተናገርኋቸውን፣ ፈጽሞም ያላሰብሁትን፣ ወንዶች ልጆቻቸውን በእሳት ሊሠዉለት ለበኣል መስገጃ ኰረብታዎች ሠርተዋል። 6ስለዚህ ሰዎች ይህን ስፍራ የዕርድ ሸለቆ እንጂ ከእንግዲህ ቶፌት ወይም የሄኖም ልጅ ሸለቆ ብለው የማይጠሩበት ዘመን ይመጣል፤” ይላል እግዚአብሔር።
7“ ‘በዚህ ስፍራ የይሁዳንና የኢየሩሳሌምን ዕቅድ አፈርሳለሁ፤19፥7 አፈርሳለሁ የሚለው የዕብራይስጡ ቃል አነባበብ ገንቦ ከሚለው ጋር ይመሳሰላል (1 እና 10 ይመ)። በጠላቶቻቸው ፊት ሕይወታቸውን በሚሹት እጅ በሰይፍ እንዲወድቁ አደርጋለሁ፤ ሬሳቸውንም ለሰማይ ወፎችና ለምድር አራዊት ምግብ አድርጌ እሰጣለሁ። 8ይህችን ከተማ ድምጥማጧን አጠፋለሁ፤ ለመሣለቂያም አደርጋታለሁ፤ በዚያም የሚያልፉ ሁሉ ከደረሰባት ጕዳት የተነሣ ወይ ጉድ! ይላሉ፣ ያሾፋሉም። 9የወንዶችና የሴቶች ልጆቻቸውን ሥጋ እንዲበሉ አደርጋለሁ፤ ሕይወታቸውን ለማጥፋት የሚሹ ጠላቶቻቸው ከብበው ሲያስጨንቋቸው፣ አንዱ የሌላውን ሥጋ ይበላል።’
10“ገንቦውንም ከአንተ ጋር በሄዱ ሰዎች ፊት ትሰብራለህ፤ 11እንዲህም ትላቸዋለህ፤ ‘የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ “የሸክላ ሠሪው ገንቦ እንደ ተሰበረና ሊጠገን እንደማይቻል፣ ይህን ሕዝብና ይህችን ከተማ እንዲሁ እሰብራለሁ፤ የቀብር ቦታ ከመታጣቱ የተነሣ ሙታናቸውን በቶፌት ይቀብራሉ። 12በዚህ ስፍራና በውስጡም በሚኖሩት ላይ ይህን አደርጋለሁ” ይላል እግዚአብሔር። ይህችን ከተማ እንደ ቶፌት አደርጋታለሁ። 13በጣራዎቻቸው ላይ ለሰማይ ሰራዊት ዕጣን የታጠነባቸውና ለባዕዳን አማልክት የመጠጥ ቍርባን የቀረበባቸው፣ የኢየሩሳሌም ቤቶችና የይሁዳ ነገሥታት ቤቶች እንደ ቶፌት የረከሱ ይሆናሉ።’ ”
14ኤርምያስም እግዚአብሔር ትንቢት እንዲናገር ልኮት ከነበረበት ከቶፌት ተመልሶ፣ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አደባባይ በመቆም፣ ለሕዝቡ ሁሉ እንዲህ አለ፤ 15“የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘እነሆ ዐንገታቸውን በማደንደን ቃሌን ስላልሰሙ በዚህች ከተማና በዙሪያዋ ባሉ መንደሮች ሁሉ ላይ ላደርስ ያሰብሁትን ጥፋት ሁሉ አመጣለሁ።’ ”
1Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,19.2 the east…: Heb. the sun gate 3And 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 tingle. 4Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7And 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 carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9And 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 friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
10Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11And 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.19.11 be made…: Heb. be healed 12Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 13And 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 roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. 14Then 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, 15Thus 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.
