19:10 The Lord continued, 1 “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you. 19:11 Tell them the Lord who rules over all says, 2 ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. 3 I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. 4 The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’ 5 19:12 I, the Lord, say: 6 ‘That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth. 19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies 7 just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars 8 and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”
1 tn The words “And the
2 tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies.” For this title see the study note on 2:19. The translation attempts to avoid the confusion of embedding quotes within quotes by reducing this one to an indirect quote.
3 tn The adverb “Thus” or “Like this” normally points back to something previously mentioned. See, e.g., Exod 29:35; Num 11:15; 15:11; Deut 25:9.
4 tn Heb “Like this I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks the vessel of a potter which is not able to be repaired.”
5 sn See Jer 7:22-23 for parallels.
6 tn This phrase (Heb “Oracle of the
7 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.
8 tn Heb “the host of heaven.”