Jeremiah 19:2-6

19:2 Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley which is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. ¹  Announce there what I tell you. ²  19:3 Say, ‘Listen to what the Lord says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! ³  The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁴  says, “I will bring a disaster on this place ⁵  that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring! ⁶  19:4 I will do so because these people ⁷  have rejected me and have defiled ⁸  this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors ⁹  nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. ¹⁰  19:5 They have built places here ¹¹  for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices ¹²  are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind! 19:6 So I, the Lord, say: ¹³  “The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley ¹⁴  the Valley of Slaughter!

Jeremiah 19:13

19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ¹⁵  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ¹⁶  and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

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¹ sn The exact location of the Potsherd Gate is unknown since it is nowhere else mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is sometimes identified with the Dung Gate mentioned in Neh 2:13; 3:13-14; 12:31 on the basis of the Jerusalem Targum. It is probably called “Potsherd Gate” because that is where the potter threw out the broken pieces of pottery which were no longer of use to him. The Valley of Ben Hinnom has already been mentioned in 7:31-32 in connection with the illicit religious practices, including child sacrifice, which took place there. The Valley of Ben Hinnom (or sometimes Valley of Hinnom) runs along the west and south sides of Jerusalem.

² tn Heb “the words that I will speak to you.”

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

sn See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for explanation of this title.

⁵ sn Careful comparison of the use of this term throughout this passage and comparison with 7:31-33 which is parallel to several verses in this passage will show that the reference is to the Valley of Ben Hinnom which will become a Valley of Slaughter (see v. 6 and 7:32).

⁶ tn Heb “which everyone who hears it [or about it] his ears will ring.” This is proverbial for a tremendous disaster. See 1 Sam 3:11; 2 Kgs 21:12 for similar prophecies.

⁷ tn The text merely has “they.” But since a reference is made later to “they” and “their ancestors,” the referent must be to the people that the leaders of the people and leaders of the priests represent.

⁸ sn Heb “have made this city foreign.” The verb here is one that is built off of the noun and adjective which relate to foreign nations. Comparison may be made to Jer 2:21 where the adjective refers to the strange, wild vine as opposed to the choice vine the Lord planted and to 5:19 and 8:19 where the noun is used of worshiping foreign gods. Israel through its false worship has “denationalized” itself in its relation to God.

⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the blood of innocent ones.” This must be a reference to child sacrifice as explained in the next verse. Some have seen a reference to the sins of social injustice alluded to in 2 Kgs 21:16 and 24:4 but those are connected with the city itself. Hence the word children is supplied in the translation to make the referent explicit.

¹¹ tn The word “here” is not in the text. However, it is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn The words “such sacrifices” are not in the text. The text merely says “to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal which I did not command.” The command obviously refers not to the qualification “to Baal” but to burning the children in the fire as burnt offerings. The words are supplied in the translation to avoid a possible confusion that the reference is to sacrifices to Baal. Likewise the words should not be translated so literally that they leave the impression that God never said anything about sacrificing their children to other gods. The fact is he did. See Lev 18:21; Deut 12:30; 18:10.

¹³ tn This phrase (Heb “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24; 18:6.

¹⁴ tn Heb “it will no longer be called to this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom but the Valley of Slaughter.”

sn See Jer 7:31-32 for an almost word for word repetition of vv. 5-6.

¹⁵ tn The words “by dead bodies” is not in the text but is implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Heb “the host of heaven.”