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.” ’
1Yehova anandiwuza kuti, “Pita ukagule mʼphika wadothi kwa munthu wowumba. Utenge akuluakulu ena a anthuwa ndi ansembe 2ndipo mupite ku Chigwa cha Hinomu chimene chili pafupi ndi pa chipata cha mapale. Pamenepo ukalengeze mawu amene ndikakuwuze. 3Ukanene kuti, ‘Imvani mawu a Yehova, inu mafumu a ku Yuda ndi anthu a ku Yerusalemu. Yehova Wamphamvuzonse, Mulungu wa Israeli, akuti: Tamverani! Ine ndibweretsa mavuto pa malo pano mwakuti aliyense amene adzamve adzadzidzimuka. 4Pakuti anthu andikana Ine ndipo ayipitsa malo ano. Afukiza lubani pa malo ano kwa milungu imene iwo ngakhale makolo awo ngakhalenso mafumu a ku Yuda sanayidziwe. Iwo adzaza malowa ndi magazi a anthu osalakwa. 5Amanga nsanja zopembedzerapo Baala, kuperekapo ana awo kuti akhale nsembe zopsereza kwa Baala, chinthu chimene Ine sindinalamule kapena kuchiyankhula, ngakhalenso kuchiganizira. 6Nʼchifukwa chake taonani, masiku akubwera, akutero Yehova, pamene anthu sadzatchulanso malo ano kuti Tofeti kapena Chigwa cha Hinomu, koma Chophera anthu.
7“ ‘Pamalo pano ndidzasokoneza maganizo a anthu a ku Yuda ndi a ku Yerusalemu. Ndidzachititsa kuti adani awo awaphe ku nkhondo. Ndidzawakanthitsa kwa anthu amene akuwazonda. Mitembo yawo ndidzayipereka kwa mbalame za mlengalenga ndi zirombo za kutchire kuti ikhale chakudya chawo. 8Mzinda uno ndidzawusakaza ndi kuwusandutsa chinthu chochititsa mantha ndi chonyansa. Onse odutsamo adzadabwa ndi kupukusa mitu yawo chifukwa cha kuwonongeka kwake. 9Adani awo adzawuzinga mzindawo kufuna kuwapha motero kuti anthu a mʼkatimo adzafika pomadyana wina ndi mnzake. Adzadya ana awo aamuna ndi ana awo aakazi.’
10“Tsono iwe udzaphwanye mtsukowo anthu amene udzapite nawowo akuona, 11ndipo ukawawuze kuti, ‘Yehova Wamphamvuzonse akuti, Ine ndidzaphwanya dziko lino ndi mzinda uno ngati momwe wowumba amaphwanyira mbiya yake ndipo sangathe kuyikonzanso. Adzayika anthu akufa ku Tofeti chifukwa padzasowa malo ena owayika. 12Umu ndi mmene ndidzachitire ndi malo ano pamodzi ndi anthu okhalamo, akutero Yehova. Ndidzasandutsa mzindawu kukhala ngati Tofeti. 13Nyumba za mu Yerusalemu ndi za mafumu a ku Yuda ndidzazisandutsa ngati za ku Tofeti chifukwa ndi nyumba zimene pa madenga ake ankafukiza lubani kwa zolengedwa zamlengalenga ndi kuthira nsembe zachakumwa kwa milungu ina.’ ”
14Kenaka Yeremiya anabwerako ku Tofeti, kumene Yehova anamutuma kuti akanenere, nakayimirira mʼbwalo la Nyumba ya Yehova ndi kuwawuza anthu kuti, 15“Yehova Wamphamvuzonse, Mulungu wa Israeli, akuti, ‘Tamverani! Ine ndidzabweretsa masautso amene ndinanena aja pa mzinda uno ndi pa mizinda yozungulira, chifukwa anthu ake ndi nkhutukumve ndipo sanamvere mawu anga.’ ”
