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።’ ”
1This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 4For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. 6So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7“ ‘In this place I will ruin19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10). the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds. 9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’
10“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, 11and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ”
14Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’ ”
