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Jeremiah 19:11

in Jeremiah 19

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah 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 in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.

KJV

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.

This verse in Jeremiah 19

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 31 · Written before 253.

The apostle also knows vessels of wrath "made for destruction so that he might make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy." God has divided all people into these two vessels, those of wrath, those of mercy, those like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, those like Paul and those who have believed. But what is the treasury of the Lord in which are the vessels of wrath? Perhaps it is the church, in which such often go unnoticed.

This site's exposition

Then you are to shatter the

on Jeremiah 19:10-13

The jar is shattered before the witnesses. The LORD will “shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired.” Chapter 18’s soft clay could be reformed on the wheel, but a fired jar once broken stays broken.

This site's exposition

and you are to proclaim to them

Jerome and Adam Clarke read the jar that can never be repaired as the Roman ruin, for the city rose again after the exile. Matthew Henry notes that the people trusted their hardness as if they were brass. Hardened clay breaks sooner.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

(Verse 10, 11.) And you shall break the jar in the eyes of the men who go or come with you. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So shall I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be restored any longer. Clearly it is spoken not of the Babylonian, but of the Roman captivity. For after the Babylonians, the city was rebuilt, the people brought back to Judah, and the former abundance restored.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Expositions of the Psalms, Psalm 45 · Written before 430.

proposed

"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity." See there "the rod of direction" described. "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity." Draw near to that "rod;" let Christ be thy King: let Him "rule" thee with that rod, not crush thee with it. For that rod is "a rod of iron;" an inflexible rod. "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron: and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Some He rules; others He "breaks in pieces:" He "rules" them that are spiritual: He "breaks in pieces" them that are carnal. ...Would He so loudly declare that He was about to smite thee, if He wished to smite thee? He is then holding back His Hand from the punishment of thine offences; but do not thou hold back. Turn thou thyself to the punishment of thine offences: for unpunished offences cannot be: punishment therefore must be executed either by thyself, or by Him: do thou then plead guilty, that He may reprieve thee. Consider an instance in that penitential Psalm: "Hide Thy face from my sins." Did he mean "from me"? No: for in another passage he says plainly, "Hide not Thy face from me." ..."Turn Thou Thy face from my sins." But thou thyself, if thou wouldest have God turn "His face" from them, turn not thine own face from them. Observe how he proposes this to God in that very Psalm: "I acknowledge," he says, "my transgression, and my sin is ever before me." He would fain have that which he wishes to be ever before his own eyes, not be before God's eyes. Let no one flatter himself with fond hopes of God's mercy. His sceptre is "a sceptre of righteousness." Do we say that God is not merciful? What can exceed His mercy, who shows such forbearance to sinners; who takes no account of the past in all that turn unto Him? So love thou Him for His mercy, as still to wish that He should be truthful. […]

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They depended much upon the firmness of their constitution, and the fixedness of their courage, which they thought hardened them like a vessel of brass; but the prophet shows that all that did but harden them like a vessel of earth, which, though hard, is brittle and sooner broken than that which is not so hard.
And shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Made whole again - literally, “healed.” In this lies the distinction between this symbol and that of Jer 18:4. The plastic clay can be shaped and re-shaped until the potter forms with it the vessel he had predetermined: the broken bottle is of no further use, but its fragments are cast away forever upon the heaps of rubbish deposited in Tophet.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Even so will I break this people and this city - The breaking of the bottle was the symbolical representation of the destruction of the city and of the state. That cannot be made whole again - This seems to refer rather to the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, than to what was done by the Chaldeans. Jerusalem was healed after 70 years: but nearly 1800 years have elapsed since Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans; and it was then so broken, that it could not be made whole again.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

( which can no longer be repaired This refers to the people, but the city I will make like the Topheth and purify it in the future.)
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 19:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
this city like the Topheth All of it will be full of the slain just as the Topheth, where they slay the children for Molech.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 19:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

29 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְאָמַרְתָּ֨and you will say

    veamartaH559 →5305 times

  • אֲלֵיהֶ֜םto them

    ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times

  • כֹּה־thus

    koh-H3541 →577 times

  • אָמַ֣ר׀he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֣הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • צְבָא֗וֹתof hosts

    tzevaotH6635 →485 times

  • כָּ֣כָהthus

    kakhahH3602 →37 times

  • אֶשְׁבֹּ֞רI will break

    ʾeshborH7665 →147 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעָ֤םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַזֶּה֙<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • הָעִ֣ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • הַזֹּ֔את<the> this

    hazotH2063 →603 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֤רjust as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • יִשְׁבֹּר֙someone breaks

    yishborH7665 →147 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כְּלִ֣י[the] vessel of

    keliH3627 →325 times

  • הַיּוֹצֵ֔רthe potter

    haiyotzerH3335 →62 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֛רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יוּכַ֥לit will be able

    yukhalH3201 →194 times

  • לְהֵרָפֵ֖הto be repaired

    leherapehH7495 →67 times

  • ע֑וֹדagain

    odH5750 →490 times

  • וּבְתֹ֣פֶתand in Topheth

    uvetofetH8612 →9 times

  • יִקְבְּר֔וּpeople will bury

    yikberuH6912 →133 times

  • מֵאֵ֥יןfrom not

    meeinH369 →789 times

  • מָק֖וֹםroom

    makomH4725 →401 times

  • לִקְבּֽוֹר׃to bury

    likborH6912 →133 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 2:9

    You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

    it leads to

    • Revelation 12:5

      And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 2:26–27

      And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations.

    • Psalms 89:23

      I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

  • Through

    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!

    it leads to

    • 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…

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 19:15

      And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 2:8–9

      Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.

  • Through

    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…

    it leads to

    • Psalms 2:9

      You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Jeremiah 19:10–11

      Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the men who accompany you,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Expositions of the Psalms, Psalm 45; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 31.