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So I, the Lord, say:[a] “The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley[b] the Valley of Slaughter! In this place I will thwart[c] the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword[d] at the hands of their enemies.[e] I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat. I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn[f] because of all the disasters that have happened to it.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 19:6 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.
  2. Jeremiah 19:6 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.
  3. Jeremiah 19:7 sn There is perhaps a twofold wordplay in the use of this verb. One involves the sound play with the word for “jar,” which has been explained as a water decanter. The word here is בַקֹּתִי (vaqqoti). The word for jar in v. 1 is בַקְבֻּק (vaqbuq). There may also be a play on the literal use of this word to refer to the laying waste or destruction of a land (see Isa 24:3; Nah 2:3). Many modern commentaries think that at this point Jeremiah emptied out the contents of the jar, symbolizing the “emptying” out of their plans.
  4. Jeremiah 19:7 sn This refers to the fact that they will die in battle. The sword would be only one of the weapons that strikes them down. It is one of the trio of “sword,” “starvation,” and “disease” that were the concomitants of war referred to so often in the book of Jeremiah. Starvation is referred to in v. 9.
  5. Jeremiah 19:7 tn Heb “I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and in the hand of those who seek their soul [= life].” In this context the two are meant as obvious qualifications of one entity, not two. Some rearrangement of the qualifiers had to be made in the English translation to convey this.
  6. Jeremiah 19:8 sn See 18:16 and the study note there.
  7. Jeremiah 19:8 tn Heb “all its smitings.” This word has been used several times for the metaphorical “wounds” that Israel has suffered as a result of the blows from its enemies. See, e.g., 14:17. It is used in the Hebrew Bible of scourging, both literally and metaphorically (cf. Deut 25:3; Isa 10:26), and of slaughter and defeat (1 Sam 4:10; Josh 10:20). Here it refers to the results of the crushing blows at the hands of her enemies, which have made her the object of scorn.

So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth(A) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(B) but the Valley of Slaughter.(C)

“‘In this place I will ruin[a] the plans(D) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,(E) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses(F) as food(G) to the birds and the wild animals. I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;(H) all who pass by will be appalled(I) and will scoff because of all its wounds.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10).