Bible Strands
Jeremiah 19:11
and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses the accompanying men while holding the broken jar, delivering a divine oracle from Yahweh of Hosts. The prophet commands them to proclaim impending destruction to the nation and city.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֶשְׁבֹּ֞ר ('eshbor) translates literally as "I will break," paired with the adverb כָּכָה (kakhah) meaning "thus." These terms anchor the oracle’s declaration of irreversible judgment.
The thread — This motif of shattering pottery runs through Psalms 2:9, where nations are broken like pottery, and Isaiah 30:14, which describes a jar shattered into unsearchable fragments. Lamentations 4:2 similarly compares the once-precious sons of Zion to jars of clay.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh will shatter the nation and city beyond repair and fill Topheth with unburied dead until burial space is exhausted. Readers must recognize the finality of the judgment and the complete loss of civic and sacred order.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Psalms 2:9 You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
- Isaiah 30:14 It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”
- Lamentations 4:2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
- Jeremiah 13:14 I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
- Revelation 2:27 He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.
- Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Jeremiah 19:6 So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.