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英文原文
The same melancholy theme is the subject of this chapter that was of those foregoing—the approaching ruin of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins. This Jeremiah had often foretold; here he has particularly full orders to foretel it again. I. He must set their sins in order before them, as he had often done, especially their idolatry, Jer 19:4,5. II. He must describe the particular judgments which were now coming apace upon them for these sins, Jer 19:6-9. III. He must do this in the valley of Tophet, with great solemnity, and for some particular reasons, Jer 19:2,3. IV. He must summon a company of the elders together to be witnesses of this, Jer 19:1. V. He must confirm this, and endeavour to affect his hearers with it, by a sign, which was the breaking of an earthen bottle, signifying that they should be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel, Jer 19:10-13. VI. When he had done this in the valley of Tophet he ratified it in the court of the temple, Jer 19:14,15. Thus were all likely means tried to awaken this stupid senseless people to repentance, that their ruin might be prevented; but all in vain.
1-9
The Desolation of Jerusalem (600 BC)
简体中文
耶路撒冷的荒凉（主前600年）
¹ 耶和华如此说：你去买窑匠的瓦瓶，又要带百姓中的长老和祭司中的长老几位出去。 ² 往欣嫩子谷去，就是哈珥西门的入口，在那里宣告我所吩咐你的话。 ³ 说：犹大君王和耶路撒冷的居民哪，当听耶和华的话。万军之耶和华以色列的神如此说：看哪，我必使灾祸临到这地方，凡听见的人耳朵都必耳鸣。 ⁴ 因为他们离弃了我，使这地成为荒场，向别神烧香——就是他们和他们的列祖、犹大列王所不认识的神；又使这地方满了无辜人的血； ⁵ 又建筑巴力的邱坛，用火焚烧自己的儿子献给巴力为燔祭——这是我未曾吩咐、未曾说过，也未曾起意的事。 ⁶ 所以耶和华说：日子将到，这地方不再称为陀斐特，也不再称为欣嫩子谷，却称为杀戮谷。 ⁷ 我必在这地方使犹大和耶路撒冷的计谋变为虚浮，也必使他们倒在仇敌的刀下，并寻索其性命的人手下；我必将他们的尸首给空中的飞鸟和地上的野兽为食。 ⁸ 我必使这城变为荒场，成为令人嗤笑之处；凡经过的人必因这城所遭的一切灾祸惊骇嗤笑。 ⁹ 我必使他们在围困窘迫之中，因仇敌和寻索其性命之人所加的窘迫，吃自己儿女的肉，各人吃自己朋友的肉。
人的败坏既使「律上加律、例上加例」成为必要（我们接受神之事如此迟钝，又如此易于遗忘），神的恩典也就照此安排了「律上加律、例上加例」，使那无可挽回的人无可推诿。因此先知奉差遣带着一篇与素常所传大意相同的信息——只是加了一些可能使人更加留意的情境；传道人当在此用心，因为一个小小的情境有时会大有帮助；那要得人灵魂的，必须有智慧。
一、他要选取教会和国家中的长老和首脑人物作他的听众和他所作之事的见证——「百姓的长老和祭司的长老」——即在行政和圣职中最显赫的人，使他们如「忠信的见证人」（赛8:2）那样记下这事。这些大人物竟听一个贫穷先知的吩咐，遵他的召唤出城——他们既不知往哪里去，也不知为何而去——实在希奇。但长老中虽大多与他相左，大概其中仍有些人视他为耶和华的先知，肯向这属天的异象表示敬意。当记取：有地位有名望的人有机会借勤赴听道和其他神圣礼器之工而尊荣神；他们当以为这是尊荣，并不屈辱自己——尽管所处境地卑微可鄙。最大的世人确比神最小的圣礼还小。
二、他要「往欣嫩子谷去」，在那里传这信息；因为「耶和华的话」不受限于任何一处；在陀斐特谷所传的，可如圣殿门口所传的同样精彩。基督曾在山上、在船上讲道。这谷一部分位于耶路撒冷以南，但先知前往那里要「从东门——日门」（耶19:2，有人如此译）的入口进去——这意指它不朝日出方向，而朝正午之日——「窑匠的门」，有人如此说。这篇道必须在那地方——在欣嫩子谷——传讲，1. 是因为他们在那里犯了他们最卑鄙的偶像之罪——把儿女献给摩洛，那可怖的不敬虔之举；看见这地方便能提醒他们、控诉他们。2. 是因为他们要在那里感受他们最惨的灾祸；那里必有他们中间最大的杀戮；那谷既是该城的公共倾倒之处，让他们看着它，便可想象这座宏伟之城若全然变为陀斐特谷那副光景，将是何等可悲。神吩咐他往那里去，「在那里宣告我所吩咐你的话」——到了那里才告诉他；由此可见（如加塔克先生所观察的）：神的信息常常在先知要传讲的那一刹那之前才启示给他们。
三、他要广为宣告：犹大和耶路撒冷不久必有一场普遍的毁灭（耶19:3）。他要像那宣告的人一样，先以一声「你们当听」开始：「『你们当听耶和华的话』——尽管这是可畏的话，因为若真是如此，你们只能怪自己。」掌权者和受治者都要冒性命危险留意；「犹大君王」——王和他的众子、王和众首领及枢密顾问——当听万王之王的话，因为他们虽高，他更在他们之上。「耶路撒冷的居民」也当听神对他们所说的话。君王和百姓既都贡献于全国的罪，就必须一同悔改，否则必同受全国的毁灭。让他们都知道：「『万军之耶和华』」——所以能行他所威吓的——虽是「以色列的神」，不，正因为如此，他必先因他们的罪孽刑罚他们（摩3:2）：「他必使灾祸临到这地方」（即犹大和耶路撒冷），如此出人意料、如此可怕，「凡听见的人耳朵都必耳鸣」——凡听见这预言、听见这事的风声和描述的人，必受如此恐怖的印象，以致仍觉那话在他耳中作响，不能从心中除掉。以利家的毁灭正是如此描绘的（撒上3:11），耶路撒冷的毁灭也是（王下21:12）。
四、他要明明告诉他们，神与他们争论的罪是什么（耶19:4-5）。他们被控离弃神（「他们离弃了我」），并滥用有形教会的特权——即他们所受尊荣之恩——「他们使这地方成为荒场」。耶路撒冷（圣城）、圣殿（圣屋）本是为神的荣耀并维持他在人间的国而设，他们竟把它从这些用途上挪作他用；（如有人如此译）他们「奇异地滥用了」。他们如此以恶行玷污两者，以致神既不认两者，又弃之任其毁灭。他又控他们爱慕并敬拜假「神」，就是「他们和他们的列祖所不认识的」——这些神从未借为他们或他们祖先所行的任何大能或恩惠之事，自荐于他们的信仰和敬重，正如他们所离弃的神所丰盛行过的；他们竟随意以之为他们的神；不，因他们喜爱新奇变化，这些神越是后起之辈，他们越发喜欢；宗教上的新风尚与别的事上的新花样一样合他们的口味。他们还被控犯谋杀——蓄意谋杀：「他们使这地方满了无辜人的血。」这正是玛拿西的罪（王下24:4），是「耶和华必不赦免」的。不但如此，似乎偶像之罪和谋杀分开来犯还不够冒犯神、冒犯人，他们竟把两者合而为一，结成一种错综复杂的恶——用火焚烧儿女献给巴力（耶19:5）；这是人类所犯对自然律和启示律法最傲慢的挑衅；借此他们公然表明：他们爱他们的新神，胜过他们素来爱真神的心——尽管这些新神是如此残忍的主人，竟要求献人为祭（我该说是「不仁」之祭）；凡属生命和灵魂的主耶和华，从未向敬拜他的人索要这样的事；他从未「说过」这样的事，也未曾「起意」。见耶7:31。
五、他要努力以将临之荒凉的浩大来感动他们。他要告诉他们（正如先前所作的，耶7:32），这「欣嫩子谷」必得一新名——「杀戮谷」（耶19:6）；因为（耶19:7）必有大批的人在那里「倒在刀下」——或因他们出城突击敌人被击退，或因企图逃脱而被擒；他们必「倒在仇敌面前」，仇敌不仅企图夺他们的房屋和产业，更对他们怀如此难息的仇恨，「寻索他们的性命」——他们渴饮他们的血；他们死后，仇敌也不肯订约容许收埋尸体，「他们的尸首必给空中的飞鸟和地上的野兽为食」。那时陀斐特谷是何等凄惨之地！至于那些留在城中、不肯与围困者议和的人，必因缺粮而死——他们先要因「仇敌所加的窘迫」而「吃自己儿女的肉」、并「至好朋友」的肉（耶19:9）。这事在律法上已作为神审判所要他们达到的极端而警告过（利26:29；申28:53），并在哀4:10应验。最后，「全城」必「荒凉」——房屋化为灰烬，居民被杀或被掳；再无人前来，其中只有凄惨可怖之物；以致「凡经过的人必惊骇」（耶19:8），正如他先前所说（耶18:16）。圣洁曾使那地「为全地所喜乐」，罪却使它成了「全地所羞辱、所耻笑」的。
六、他要向他们保证：只要他们仍不悔改、仍不归正，他们为防止和逃避这场毁灭所作的一切努力都必归于徒然（耶19:7）：「『我必在这地方使犹大和耶路撒冷的计谋变为虚浮』」——使犹大和耶路撒冷的众首领和议员之计谋——「在这地方」——就是位于城南、离先知所站不远的王宫中——成为虚浮。当记取：除了逃到神的怜悯里，无人能逃避神的公义。那些不肯自卑在神大能手下、成就神计谋的人，必发现神使他们的计谋归于虚浮，击碎他们自以为筹划周全以求自保的图谋。「抵挡耶和华，并无计谋、也无势力能以成功」（箴21:30）。
英文原文
The Desolation of Jerusalem (600 BC)
¹ Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
² And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
³ And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
⁴ Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
⁵ They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
⁶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
⁸ And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
The corruption of man having made it necessary that precept should be upon precept, and line upon line (so unapt are we to receive, and so very apt to let slip, the things of God), the grace of God has provided that there shall be, accordingly, precept upon precept, and line upon line, that those who are irreclaimable may be inexcusable. For this reason the prophet is here sent with a message to the same purport with what he had often delivered, but with some circumstances that might make it the more taken notice of, a thing which ministers should study, for a little circumstance may sometimes be a great advantage, and those that would win souls must be wise.
I. He must take of the elders and chief men, both in church and state, to be his auditors and witnesses to what he said—the ancients of the people and the ancients of the priests, the most eminent men both in the magistracy and in the ministry, that they might be faithful witnesses to record, as those Isa 8:2. It is strange that these great men should be at the beck of a poor prophet, and obey his summons to attend him out of the city, they know not whither and they knew not why. But, though the generality of the elders were disaffected to him, yet it is likely that there were some few among them who looked upon him as a prophet of the Lord, and would pay this respect to the heavenly vision. Note, Persons of rank and figure have an opportunity of honouring God, by a diligent attendance on the ministry of the word and other divine institutions; and they ought to think it an honour, and no disparagement to themselves, yea, though the circumstances be mean and despicable. It is certain that the greatest of men is less than the least of the ordinances of God.
II. He must go to the valley of the son of Hinnom, and deliver this message there; for the word of the Lord is not bound to any one place; as good a sermon may be preached in the valley of Tophet as in the gate of the temple. Christ preached on a mountain and out of a ship. This valley lay partly on the south side of Jerusalem, but the prophet's way to it was by the entry on the east gate—the sun gate (Jer 19:2), so some render it, and suppose it to look not towards the sun-rising, but the noon sun—the potter's gate, so some. This sermon must be preached in that place, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 1. Because there they had been guilty of the vilest of their idolatries, the sacrificing of their children to Moloch, a horrid piece of impiety, which the sight of the place might serve to remind them of and upbraid them with. 2. Because there they should feel the sorest of their calamities; there the greatest slaughter should be made among them; and, it being the common sink of the city, let them look upon it and see what a miserable spectacle this magnificent city would be when it should be all like the valley of Tophet. God bids him go thither, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, when thou comest thither; whereby it appears (as Mr. Gataker well observed) that God's messages were frequently not revealed to the prophets before the very instant of time wherein they were to deliver them.
III. He must give general notice of a general ruin now shortly coming upon Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 19:3. He must, as those that make proclamation, begin with an Oyes: Hear you the word of the Lord, though it be a terrible word, for you may thank yourselves if it be so. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it, at their peril; the kings of Judah, the king and his sons, the king and his princes and privy-counsellors, must hear the word of the King of kings, for, high as they are, he is above them. The inhabitants of Jerusalem also must hear what God has to say to them. Both princes and people have contributed to the national guilt and must concur in the national repentance, or they will both share in the national ruin. Let them all know that the Lord of hosts, who is therefore able to do what he threatens, though he is the God of Israel, nay, because he is so, will therefore punish them in the first place for their iniquities (Am 3:2): He will bring evil upon this place (upon Judah and Jerusalem) so surprising, and so dreadful, that whosoever hears it, his ears shall tingle; whosoever hears the prediction of it, hears the report and representation of it, it shall make such an impression of terror upon him that he shall still think he hears it sounding in his ears and shall not be able to get it out of his mind. The ruin of Eli's house is thus described (1Sa 3:11), and of Jerusalem, 2Ki 21:12.
IV. He must plainly tell them what their sins were for which God had this controversy with them, Jer 19:4,5. They are charged with apostasy from God (They have forsaken me) and abuse of the privileges of the visible church, and which they had been dignified—They have estranged this place. Jerusalem (the holy city), the temple (the holy house), which was designed for the honour of God and the support of his kingdom among men, they had alienated from those purposes, and (as some render the word) they had strangely abused. They had so polluted both with their wickedness that God had disowned both, and abandoned them to ruin. He charges them with an affection for and the adoration of false gods, such as neither they nor their fathers have known, such as never had recommended themselves to their belief and esteem by any acts of power or goodness done for them or their ancestors, as that God had abundantly done whom they forsook; yet they took them at a venture for their gods; nay, being fond of change and novelty, they liked them the better for their being upstarts, and new fashions in religion were as grateful to their fancies as in other things. They also stand charged with murder, wilful murder, from malice prepense: They have filled this place with the blood of innocents. It was Manasseh's sin (2Ki 24:4), which the Lord would not pardon. Nay, as if idolatry and murder, committed separately, were not bad enough and affront enough to God and man, they have put them together, have consolidated them into one complicated crime, that of burning their children in the fire to Baal (Jer 19:5), which was the most insolent defiance to all the laws both of natural and revealed religion that ever mankind was guilty of; and by it they openly declared that they loved their new gods better than ever they loved the true God, though they were such cruel task-masters that they required human sacrifices (inhuman I should call them), which the Lord Jehovah, whose all lives and souls are, never demanded from his worshippers; he never spoke of such a thing, nor came it into his mind. See Jer 7:31.
V. He must endeavour to affect them with the greatness of the desolation that was coming upon them. He must tell them (as he had done before, Jer 7:32) that this valley of the son of Hinnom shall acquire a new name, the valley of slaughter (Jer 19:6), for (Jer 19:7) multitudes shall fall there by the sword, when either they sally out upon the besiegers and are repulsed or attempt to make their escape and are seized: They shall fall before their enemies, who not only endeavour to make themselves masters of their houses and estates, but have such an implacable enmity to them that they seek their lives; they thirst after their blood, and, when they are dead, will not allow a cartel for the burying of the slain, but their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven and beasts of the earth. What a dismal place will the valley of Tophet be then! And as for those that remain within the city, and will not capitulate with the besiegers, they shall perish for want of food, when first they have eaten the flesh of their sons and daughters, and dearest friends, through the straitness wherewith their enemies shall straiten them, Jer 19:9. This was threatened in the law as an instance of the extremity to which the judgments of God should reduce them (Le 26:29, De 28:53) and was accomplished, La 4:10. And, lastly, the whole city shall be desolate, the houses laid in ashes, the inhabitants slain or taken prisoners; there shall be no resort to it, nor any thing in it but what looks rueful and horrid; so that every one that passes by shall be astonished (Jer 19:8), as he had said before, Jer 18:16. That place which holiness had made the joy of the whole earth sin had made the reproach and shame of the whole earth.
VI. He must assure them that all their attempts to prevent and avoid this ruin, so long as they continued impenitent and unreformed, would be fruitless and vain (Jer 19:7): I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem (of the princes and senators of Judah and Jerusalem) in this place, in the royal palace, which lay on the south side of the city, not far from the place where the prophet now stood. Note, There is no fleeing from God's justice but by fleeing to his mercy. Those that will not make good God's counsel, by humbling themselves under his mighty hand, shall find that God will make void their counsel and blast their projects, which they think ever so well concerted for their own preservation. There is no counsel or strength against the Lord.
10-15
The Desolation of Jerusalem (600 BC)
简体中文
耶路撒冷的荒凉 (600 BC)
¹⁰ 你要在与你同去的人眼前打碎那瓶， ¹¹ 对他们说：万军之耶和华如此说：我必照样打碎这百姓和这城，如同人打碎窑匠的器皿，不能再复原；他们必在陀斐特葬埋尸首，直到无处可葬。 ¹² 耶和华说：我必向这地方和其中的居民如此行，使这城如同陀斐特。 ¹³ 耶路撒冷的房屋和犹大诸王的房屋，都必因陀斐特之地而被污秽，因他们在一切房屋的房顶上向天象烧香，向别神浇奠祭。 ¹⁴ 于是耶利米从陀斐特——就是耶和华差他去说预言之处——回来，站在耶和华殿的院中，对众百姓说： ¹⁵ 万军之耶和华、以色列的神如此说：看哪，我必使我所宣告要临到的一切灾祸，临到这城和属她的城邑；因为他们硬着颈项，不听从我的话。
耶19:1-9所传的忿怒信息，在此以两种方式得着加强，为要使人信服：
一、借着可见的记号。先知要随身带一个「瓦瓶」（耶19:1），传完信息之后，要「把瓶打碎」（耶19:10），那作讲道听众的同一班人，也必作这记号的观众。在前一章他把这百姓比作窑匠的泥，在制作过程中容易损坏。但有人或说：「我们已过了那阶段；我们早已成形变硬了。」「即便如此又如何，」他说，「窑匠的器皿在任何人手中都同样易碎，正如器皿在窑匠手中还是软泥时容易损坏；而且它的处境在这一点上更糟：软泥之时虽坏，还可再塑；既硬之后再碎，便永不能再补。」或许他们所见的比单听人说的更能打动他们；这正是圣礼记号的用意，而以符号施教乃古时所常用的。在解释这记号时，他必须重申先前已说的，并进一步论及这事发生之地——陀斐特谷。1. 正如瓦瓶被迦勒底军队轻易地、无可抵挡地、不可挽回地打碎（耶19:11）。他们颇以自己体制的坚固、勇气的稳定自豪，以为那使他们硬如铜器；但先知指明，这一切不过使他们硬如土器——虽硬，却脆，比不太硬的更易碎。他们虽被造为贵重的器皿，仍是土器；他们若羞辱神和自己、又不尽其被造的目的，就必因此知道。要拆毁他们的，正是造他们的神自己：「我必打碎这百姓和这城」，把他们如同「窑匠的器皿」摔碎；这是外邦人的厄运（诗2:9，启2:27），如今却是耶路撒冷的厄运（赛30:14）。「窑匠的器皿」一旦破碎，「不能再复原，不能医治」（原文如此）。耶路撒冷的毁灭将是彻底的；除那打碎它的手之外，无人能修补；他们若归回他，他虽撕裂，也必医治。2. 这事在陀斐特行，为要表明两件事：（1）陀斐特必作被杀之人的收容所：「他们必在陀斐特葬埋尸首，直到无处可葬」；他们要争抢地方停放死者，而那时一点点地方就够那些生前「连房连田」霸占之人用了。那些生前要「独居地上之中」、强迫周围一切人远避的，死后却要与众人同卧；因为在他以先的已不可胜数。（2）陀斐特必作全城的写照（耶19:12）：『我必使这城如同陀斐特。』他们既用献给偶像的祭尸填满陀斐特谷，神也必用作为向神公义之祭的仆倒之尸填满全城。我们读到（王下23:10）约西亚污秽了陀斐特，因它被滥用为拜偶像之地；他所作的（如耶19:14所示）是「以人的骨头填满它」；无论它从前如何，从那时起它便被视为可憎之地。死尸和城中的其他污物都运到那里，常在那里生火焚烧。耶利米被差到那里说预言之时，那谷正是这副光景；这地方被视为如此可咒诅，以至于在救主时代的语言中，地狱据此被称为「欣嫩子谷——盖亨拿」。「如今」（神说）「自从那可称颂的改革——陀斐特被污秽——以来，并未如所当行的那样进行，也未成为彻底的改革；虽然陀斐特的偶像被废除、被憎恶，耶路撒冷中的偶像仍然存留；所以我必对待这城如同约西亚对待陀斐特——以人的尸体填满它，使它成为废墟一堆。」连「耶路撒冷的房屋」并「犹大诸王的房屋」——连王宫也不为例外——都必「如同陀斐特之地被污秽」（耶19:13），原因相同——因其中所犯的拜偶像之罪；他们既不肯以改革污秽这些房屋，神就必以毁灭污秽它们，「因为他们」「在房屋的房顶上向天象烧香」。他们房屋的平顶有时被敬虔之人用作祷告的便利之处（徒10:9），拜偶像之人则用作高处，在上面向外邦神献祭——尤其向「天象」——日、月、星辰——在那里他们以为更接近这些天体，能更清楚、更充分地看见它们。我们读到「在房顶上敬拜天象」的（番1:5），又读到「亚哈斯顶楼廊子上的坛」（王下23:12）。这房顶上的罪把咒诅带入屋中，使房屋被吞灭，成为如陀斐特一般的粪堆。
二、借着在「耶和华殿的院中」对他所说的庄重承认和批准（耶19:14-15）。先知从陀斐特回到圣殿——圣殿坐落在那谷上面的山上——在那里印证、或许重述了他在陀斐特谷中所说的，为未曾听见之人的益处；他所说的他必坚持。此处如常，他既向他们保证审判必临，又指出其缘由——他们的罪。这两者在此一并简述，并回顾先前一切所言。1. 此处所威吓的审判就是预言的应验。百姓以自欺的幻想安慰自己，以为神必比他所说的更好，威吓不过是为惊吓他们、使他们稍存敬畏；先知告诉他们，若如此想便是自欺：「因为万军之耶和华如此说」——他能使自己的话兑现——「我必使我所宣告要临到的一切灾祸，临到这城，并属她的一切城邑」——那些属于耶路撒冷这母城的较小之城。请注意：无论人怎样想，护理的执行必充分应验道的预言；神必如圣经所显明的那样对罪和罪人显为可畏；人的不信既不能使他的应许也不能使他的威吓归于无效，也不能使之比所认为的减少功效。2. 此处所控的罪乃是他们藐视预言，视为招致这审判之因。这是因为「他们硬着颈项」，不肯向神话语之轭低头弯颈，「不听从我的话」——即不留心、不顺从。请注意：罪人在罪恶之径上的顽梗，全然是他们自己的过错；他们的颈项若变硬，是他们自己的行为，是他们把它弄硬的；他们若对神之道充耳不闻，是因为他们自己堵住了耳朵。所以我们实在需要祷告，求神借他的恩典救我们「脱离硬心并藐视他的道和诫命」。
英文原文
The Desolation of Jerusalem (600 BC)
¹⁰ Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
¹¹ 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.
¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
¹³ 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.
¹⁴ Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,
¹⁵ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
The message of wrath delivered in the Jer 19:1-9 is here enforced, that it might gain credit, two ways:—
I. By a visible sign. The prophet was to take along with him an earthen bottle (Jer 19:1), and, when he had delivered his message, he was to break the bottle to pieces (Jer 19:10), and the same that were auditors of the sermon must be spectators of the sign. He had compared this people, in the chapter before, to the potter's clay, which is easily marred in the making. But some might say, "It is past that with us; we have been made and hardened long since." "And what though you be," says he, "the potter's vessel is as soon broken in the hand of any man as the vessel while it is soft clay is marred in the potter's hand, and its case is, in this respect, much worse, that the vessel while it is soft clay, though it be marred, may be moulded again, but, after it is hardened, when it is broken it can never be pieced again." Perhaps what they see will affect them more than what they only hear talk of; that is the intention of sacramental signs, and teaching by symbols was anciently used. In the explication of this sign he must inculcate what he had before said, with a further reference to the place where this was done, in the valley of Tophet. 1. As the bottle was easily, irresistibly, and irrecoverably broken by the Chaldean army, Jer 19:11. 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. Though they were made vessels of honour, still they were vessels of earth, and so they shall be made to know if they dishonour God and themselves, and serve not the purposes for which they were made. It is God himself, who made them, that resolves to unmake them: I will break this people and this city, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel; the doom of the heathen (Ps 2:9, Re 2:27), but now Jerusalem's doom, Isa 30:14. A potter's vessel, when once broken, cannot be made whole again, cannot be cured, so the word is. The ruin of Jerusalem shall be an utter ruin; no hand can repair it but his that broke it; and if they return to him, though he has torn, he will heal. 2. This was done in Tophet, to signify two things:—(1.) That Tophet should be the receptacle of the slain: They shall bury in Tophet till there be no place to bury any more there; they shall jostle for room to lay their dead, and a very little room will then serve those who, while they lived, laid house to house and field to field. Those that would be placed alone in the midst of the earth while they were above ground, and obliged all about them to keep their distance, must lie with the multitude when they are underground, for there are innumerable before them. (2.) That Tophet should be a resemblance of the whole city (Jer 19:12): I will make this city as Tophet. As they had filled the valley of Tophet with the slain which they sacrificed to their idols, so God will fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to the justice of God. We read (2Ki 23:10) of Josiah's defiling Tophet, because it had been abused to idolatry, which he did (as should seem, Jer 19:14) by filling it with the bones of men; and, whatever it was before, thenceforward it was looked upon as a detestable place. Dead carcases, and other filth of the city, were carried thither, and a fire was continually kept there for the burning of it. This was the posture of that valley when Jeremiah was sent thither to prophesy; and so execrable a place was it looked upon to be that, in the language of our Saviour's time, hell was called, in allusion to it, Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom. "Now" (says God) "since that blessed reformation, when Tophet was defiled, did not proceed as it ought to have done, nor prove a thorough reformation, but though the idols in Tophet were abolished and made odious those in Jerusalem remained, therefore will I do with the city as Josiah did by Tophet, fill it with the bodies of men, and make it a heap of rubbish." Even the houses of Jerusalem, and those of the kings of Judah, the royal palaces not excepted, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet (Jer 19:13), and for the same reason, because of the idolatries that have been committed there; since they will not defile them by a reformation, God will defile them by a destruction, because upon the roofs of their houses they have burnt incense unto the host of heaven. The flat roofs of their houses were sometimes used by devout people as convenient places for prayer (Ac 10:9), and by idolaters they were used as high places, on which they sacrificed to strange gods, especially to the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, that there they might be so much nearer to them and have a clearer and fuller view of them. We read of those that worshipped the host of heaven upon the house-tops (Zep 1:5), and of altars on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, 2Ki 23:12. This sin upon the house-tops brought a curse into the house, which consumed it, and made it a dunghill like Tophet.
II. By a solemn recognition and ratification of what he had said in the court of the Lord's house, Jer 19:14,15. The prophet returned from Tophet to the temple, which stood upon the hill over that valley, and there confirmed, and probably repeated, what he had said in the valley of Tophet, for the benefit of those who had not heard it; what he had said he would stand to. Here, as often before, he both assures them of judgments coming upon them and assigns the cause of them, which was their sin. Both these are here put together in a little compass, with a reference to all that had gone before. 1. The accomplishment of the prophecies is here the judgment threatened. The people flattered themselves with a conceit that God would be better than his word, that the threatening was but to frighten them and keep them in awe a little; but the prophet tells them that they deceive themselves if they think so: For thus saith the Lord of hosts, who is able to make his words good, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns, all the smaller cities that belong to Jerusalem the metropolis, all the evil that I have pronounced against it. Note, Whatever men may think to the contrary, the executions of Providence will fully answer the predictions of the word, and God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the scripture makes him; nor shall the unbelief of men make either his promises or his threatenings of no effect or of less effect than they were thought to be of. 2. The contempt of the prophecies is here the sin charged upon them, as the procuring cause of this judgment. It is because they have hardened their necks, and would not bow and bend them to the yoke of God's commands, would not hear my words, that is, would not heed them and yield obedience to them. Note, The obstinacy of sinners in their sinful ways is altogether their own fault; if their necks are hardened, it is their own act and deed, they have hardened them; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their own ears. We have need therefore to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart and contempt of his word and commandments.
本章所论与前几章一样，主题同样沉重——犹大和耶路撒冷因他们的罪即将败亡。这事耶利米已屡次预言，此处他受命特别详细地再次预告。一、他必须将他们的罪一一陈列在他们面前，正如他素常所行的，尤其他们的偶像崇拜（耶 19:4-5）。二、他必须描绘因这些罪正迅速临到他们的具体审判（耶 19:6-9）。三、他必须在陀斐特谷中，以极其庄重的方式，并为某些特别的原因行这事（耶 19:2-3）。四、他必须召集一群长老来作见证（耶 19:1）。五、他必须用一个记号来印证此事，并以此打动听者——就是打碎一只瓦瓶，表明他们必如窑匠的器皿被摔碎（耶 19:10-13）。六、他在陀斐特谷行完这事之后，又在圣殿的院宇中加以确认（耶 19:14-15）。如此，为要唤醒这群麻木无知的百姓悔改，使他们的毁灭得以避免，一切可行的方法都已试过，但终归徒然。