Bible Strands
Jeremiah 19:13
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah speaks to the assembled people in the courtyard of the house of the LORD immediately after returning from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to deliver a prophetic warning.
The words — `בָּתֵּי` (batei) = houses of, and `תּוֹפֶת` (Topheth) = Topheth, a designated place of defilement.
The thread — The condemnation of rooftop altars and incense offerings appears in 2 Kings 23:12 and Jeremiah 7:18, while the prediction of Jerusalem’s houses being burned is echoed in Jeremiah 32:29.
Why it lands — The text states that every rooftop where incense was burned to the host of heaven or drink offerings poured to other gods will be defiled like Topheth, demanding a clear-eyed accounting of syncretistic worship rather than religious pretense.
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 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.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 23:12 He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
- Jeremiah 32:29 And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in, set it on fire, and burn it, along with the houses of those who provoked Me to anger by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
- Jeremiah 7:18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.
- Zephaniah 1:5 those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
- Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
- 2 Kings 23:10 He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
- Psalms 74:7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
- Psalms 79:1 A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
- Jeremiah 44:18 But from the time we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been perishing by sword and famine.”
- Ezekiel 7:21 And I will hand these things over as plunder to foreigners and loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile them.