Jeremiah 19 6

Jeremiah 19:6 kjv

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.

Jeremiah 19:6 nkjv

therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 19:6 niv

So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 19:6 esv

therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 19:6 nlt

So beware, for the time is coming, says the LORD, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 19 verses

Jeremiah 19 6 Meaning

Jeremiah 19:6 prophesies a severe and permanent judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem. God declares that the infamous place of child sacrifice, Topheth in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, will be stripped of its old, cursed name and rebranded as "the Valley of Slaughter." This renaming signifies an impending, overwhelming massacre of people at that very location, serving as a chilling divine indictment of their idolatry and sin.

Jeremiah 19 6 Context

Jeremiah 19 opens with a powerful prophetic act where the prophet is instructed by God to take a potter's flask and, in the presence of elders and priests, go to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom (specifically Topheth). There, Jeremiah is to proclaim God's judgment against Jerusalem and Judah, culminating in the shattering of the flask. This dramatic act symbolizes the complete and irreversible destruction that awaits the people for their idolatry, specifically the abominable practice of sacrificing their children to foreign gods like Baal and Molech (Jer 19:4-5). The judgment is a direct response to their rejection of YHWH, their pursuit of detestable customs, and their defilement of sacred spaces with innocent blood. Verse 6, therefore, announces the profound and literal transformation of this valley from a site of heinous religious ritual to a mass grave, reflecting the magnitude of the coming divine wrath carried out by foreign invaders. This occurred during the reigns leading up to and during the Babylonian invasions and subsequent exile (6th century BC).

Jeremiah 19 6 Word analysis

• Therefore: (Hebrew: lakhen) Signals a direct consequence or conclusion based on the preceding declarations of sin and judgment in Jer 19:3-5. It emphasizes the direct link between their actions and God's impending decree.
• behold: (Hebrew: hinneh) An emphatic interjection. It demands immediate attention and signals a weighty, significant, and certain pronouncement from God, adding a sense of urgency and gravity to the prophetic message.
• the days are coming: (Hebrew: yāmîm bā'îm) A common prophetic formula used to introduce an event that is certainly future but is imminent and determined by God. It conveys the divine decree as an inevitable, unchangeable certainty.
• declares the Lord: (Hebrew: nĕ'um YHWH) A formal declaration of divine authority. It asserts that this prophecy is not Jeremiah's personal opinion but a direct, authoritative word from God Himself, the covenant God of Israel (YHWH). This phrase frequently marks significant divine pronouncements throughout Jeremiah.
• when this place: Refers specifically to the geographic area described just moments before in Jer 19:2 as "the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, by the entry of the Gate of Potsherds," where the potter's flask was shattered. This pinpoints the location of the promised judgment.
• shall no more be called Topheth: (Hebrew: lō’-yiqqārē’ ‘ôd-topheth) "No more be called" indicates a permanent and deliberate renaming or identity change. Topheth, meaning "fire-place" or "place of burning," had become infamous for child sacrifices. God's act here is a deliberate stripping away of its old, defiled identity.
• or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom: (Hebrew: wĕgê’ ben-hinnōm) Reaffirms the precise location. "Valley of the Son of Hinnom" was its formal geographic name, and by God's decree, this historical name would also be superseded. Its infamy for human sacrifice was profound and rooted in this identification.
• but the Valley of Slaughter: (Hebrew: kî gê’ haharēgāh) The new, terrifying name. "Haregah" (הַהֲרֵגָה) literally means "the slaughter" or "the massacre." This new name signifies that the valley's defining characteristic will become one of immense carnage, death, and dishonor. It transforms a place of ritual death to pagan gods into a site of overwhelming punitive death by the one true God.

Words-group analysis:

• "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord": This powerful opening serves as an inescapable divine announcement. It moves from logical consequence ("therefore") to a call for immediate attention ("behold"), establishes the event as an imminent, foreordained future ("the days are coming"), and unequivocally stamps it with supreme authority ("declares the Lord"). It signifies absolute certainty and gravity.
• "shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom": This phrase details the obsolescence of the previous names. It is not just an arbitrary renaming, but a divine erasure of the detestable identity the place had acquired through its association with idolatry and child sacrifice. It marks an end to the era of abomination, yet ironically, it gives way to an era of horrific divine judgment.
• "but the Valley of Slaughter": This is the culmination and new identity. The transformation is from a site associated with religious horror to one of pure, overwhelming bloodshed and death as a result of divine judgment. This new name itself serves as a chilling prophecy of the massive death toll to be incurred during the coming Babylonian invasion and siege, with bodies so numerous that they will fill the valley.

Jeremiah 19 6 Bonus section

The historical and archeological context shows that the Valley of Hinnom indeed became a site of great tragedy during the sieges of Jerusalem, particularly during the Babylonian invasion. It served not only as a place where the dead were disposed of due to the overwhelming casualties but also a stark reminder of the curses pronounced for covenant disobedience. The practice of child sacrifice in the valley was one of the clearest indications of Judah's total abandonment of YHWH, mimicking the Canaanite practices. Thus, the renaming was a direct poetic justice – the very ground defiled by their worst sins would now bear witness to God's most severe corrective action against them.

Jeremiah 19 6 Commentary

Jeremiah 19:6 delivers a profoundly concise yet devastating prophecy. The Lord declares with absolute certainty that the infamous Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and specifically Topheth, the locus of Judah's most abhorrent sin—child sacrifice—will be permanently renamed. This is more than a geographical shift; it's a theological transformation. No longer will it bear names tied to the perverse worship that angered God so deeply; instead, it will become the "Valley of Slaughter," a grim monument to divine judgment.

This renaming underscores the irreversible nature of God's wrath against a people who consistently rejected Him and defiled His land with innocent blood. The place where they sought to appease false gods by sacrificing their offspring would become their own burial ground, filled with the corpses of those struck down by God's punitive hand through the invading Babylonians. The immense number of unburied bodies would make it a place of utter desecration and horror, turning the very site of their apostasy into the grim symbol of their punishment. The echo of "Gehenna" in later biblical theology, as a place of eternal punishment, directly links to the horrific imagery first painted by Jeremiah in this valley. It highlights that sin, especially grievous sin like child sacrifice, evokes a certain, just, and often gruesome divine response.