October
29th Jeremiah 19 The broken pot
1: Thus 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; 2: And
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, 3: And 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. 4: Because 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; 5: They 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: 6: Therefore, 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. 7: And 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. 8: And 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. 9:
And 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. 10: Then shalt
thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11: And 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. 12: Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the
inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 13: And 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. 14:
Then 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, 15: Thus 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.
Jeremiah
20 Pashur cursed
1: Now Pashur the son of Immer the
priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that
Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2:
Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in
the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD. 3: And it came to pass on the morrow,
that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto
him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib. 4: For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I
will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall
by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give
all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive
into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5: Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and
all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the
treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies,
which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6: And thou, Pashur, and all that
dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou
shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou
hast prophesied lies.
Jeremiah’s
lamentation
7: O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and
I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision
daily, every one mocketh me. 8:
For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of
the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. 9: Then I said, I will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart
as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I
could not stay. 10: For I heard
the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report
it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be
enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on
him. 11: But the LORD is with
me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they
shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper:
their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12: But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest
the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I
opened my cause. 13: Sing unto
the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from
the hand of evildoers. 14:
Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me
be blessed. 15: Cursed be the
man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee;
making him very glad. 16: And
let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and
let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 17: Because he slew me not from the
womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always
great with me. 18: Wherefore
came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be
consumed with shame?
The Lord calls on Jeremiah to go to go and get a pot from
the potters house and get the very old men of the people and the very old
priests and take them to the valley
of Hinnon and proclaim
there the words of the Lord. The message was to be that the Lord will bring
evil on this place which will cause men’s ears to itch. And then he lists their
spiritual adulteries. There will come a day says the Lord when the valley will
not be called the valley
of Hinnon any more but it
will be called the valley of slaughter. All the wisdom of Judah and Jerusalem
will cease and the bodies of the people will be food for vultures. The people
will eat each other in the famine. Then Jeremiah is told by the Lord to break
the bottle of clay. And he is to say in the same way God will break this
people. And just like the bottle of clay cannot be made whole again so the
people will be destroyed and the slaughter will be so great that they will run
out of space to bury the dead. There was a man called Pashur who was the son of
Immer the priest and he came and stuck Jeremiah and put him in the stocks then
the next day when Pashur came to release him Jeremiah said the lord says that
you are to have a new name, Magor-missabib which means ‘terror on every side’.
This is because this man will be horrified by himself and all men will be
terrified of him. And the Lord said that he would be transported to Babylon he and all his
friends and he would die there because he prophesied lies to his friends.
Jeremiah was so persecuted that he thought of not speaking in the name of the
Lord again, but he could not keep from speaking. The Word of the Lord was like
a fire in his chest. Although the people sough to persecute and kill him yet
the Lord stood with Jeremiah like a ‘mighty terrible one’. Then Jeremiah bursts
forth into a song of blessing on the deliverance of God.
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