Jeremiah 27:2

¹Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest.

¹Thus said the LORD, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen container, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests; ²and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you. ³Say, ‘Hear the LORD’s word, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. ⁴Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know—they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah—and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵and have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I didn’t command, nor speak, which didn’t even enter into my mind. ⁶Therefore, behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.

⁷“‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. ⁸I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. ⁹I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will each eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’

¹⁰“Then you shall break the container in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹and shall tell them, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “Even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury.

¹²I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it. ⁴Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece: the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice bones. ⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron. Make it boil well. Yes, let its bones be boiled within it.”

⁶“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece without casting lots for it. ⁷“‘“For the blood she shed is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. ⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.”

⁹“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰Heap on the wood. Make the fire hot. Boil the meat well. Make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned. ¹¹Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. ¹²She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her.

⁴Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land.

¹The LORD’s word also came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house.

³“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your baggage for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for moving. You shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go out into exile. ⁵Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your baggage out that way. ⁶In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder, and carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face, so that you don’t see the land, for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.”

⁷I did so as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for moving, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought it out in the dark, and bore it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸In the morning, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ⁹“Son of man, hasn’t the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’

¹⁰“Say to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are.”’

¹¹“Say, ‘I am your sign. As I have done, so will it be done to them. They will go into exile, into captivity.

¹²“‘The prince who is among them will bear his baggage on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry things out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes. ¹³I will also spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. ¹⁴I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands. I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵“‘They will know that I am the LORD when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. ¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

¹⁷Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness. ¹⁹Tell the people of the land, ‘The Lord GOD says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with fearfulness and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein. ²⁰The cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”’”

²¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²²“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails’? ²³Tell them therefore, ‘The Lord GOD says: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel;”’ but tell them, ‘“The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am the LORD. I will speak, and the word that I speak will be performed. It will be no more deferred; for in your days, rebellious house, I will speak the word and will perform it,” says the Lord GOD.’”

²⁶Again the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²⁷“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off.’

²⁸“Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord GOD.’”

¹The LORD said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”

²So I bought a belt according to the LORD’s word, and put it on my waist.

³The LORD’s word came to me the second time, saying, ⁴“Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

⁶After many days, the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ⁹“The LORD says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ says the LORD; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’

²“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”

³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels. ⁴When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵Then the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ⁶“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. ⁷At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, ⁸if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. ⁹At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they don’t obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.

³⁰Ahijah took the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. ³¹He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces; for the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you

²at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your sandals from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot. ³The LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, ⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.