Jeremiah is instructed to take a potter's bottle and elders to the Valley of Hinnom, where he proclaims God's judgment against Judah for their idolatry. He then breaks the bottle to symbolize the irreparable destruction of the people and city. Finally, Jeremiah reiterates this message of impending doom to the people at the Lord's house, citing their hardened hearts.
Lectionary Calendar
Monday, April 27th, 2026
the Fourth Week after Easter
In Jeremiah 19:1 he is sent to get a potter's earthen bottle, and is told to take elders of the people and of the priests with him as witnesses.
Going forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, the place where the refuse of the city was afterwards burned, but which at this time was still the theater of the performance of the abominable rites of Moloch-worship, he was to proclaim once more to the kings of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem both the guilt of the people and the judgment that was about to be meted out to them (Jeremiah 19:2-5).
The Valley of Hinnom should soon be known as the Valley of Slaughter; for as they had slain their sons in that dreadful Tophet as offerings to Baal and Moloch, He would cause them to fall there by the sword of their enemies, and would give their unburied carcases to be meat for the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field (Jeremiah 19:6-9).
The bottle was then to be broken in the sight of the ancients, as he proclaimed the Lord's message:
"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" (Jeremiah 19:11).
Such should be the end of their rejection of GOD for the idols of the heathen.
Returning from Tophet, or the valley of Hinnom,
"he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people, 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 19:14-15).
He had warned, pleaded, and entreated, but their hearts had not relented. They must know the bitterness of the cup of His wrath.
~ end of chapter 9 ~