So, watch out!&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley<n id="2" /> the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.<n id="3" />

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then I said, &#8220;Oh, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="1" /> look!<n id="2" /> The prophets are telling them that you said,<n id="3" /> &#8216;You will not experience war or suffer famine.<n id="4" /> I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you what will happen to<n id="1" /> the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers.<n id="2" />

For I, the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen.<n id="1" /> I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Say, &#8216;Listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem!<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring a disaster on this place<n id="3" /> that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring!<n id="4" />

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley<n id="2" /> the Valley of Slaughter!

In this place I will thwart<n id="1" /> the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword<n id="2" /> at the hands of their enemies.<n id="3" /> I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

Tell them the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will do just as Jeremiah has done.<n id="2" /> I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter&#8217;s vessel which is broken beyond repair.<n id="3" /> The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.&#8217;<n id="4" />

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies<n id="1" /> just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars<n id="2" /> and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.&#8217;&#8221;p>

The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those<n id="1" /> who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows.<n id="2" /> Do not kill innocent people<n id="3" /> in this land.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;For the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, &#8220;He will never return to this land.<n id="1" />

&#8220;I, the <sc>Lord,sc> the God of Israel, say: &#8216;The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon<n id="1" /> are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.

I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim&#8217;s son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.&#8217; Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.&#8217;&#8221;p>

The prophet Jeremiah said, &#8220;Amen! May the <sc>Lordsc> do all this! May the <sc>Lordsc> make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and the people who were carried into exile.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule<n id="1" /> are over will I again take up consideration for you.<n id="2" /> Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore<n id="3" /> you to your homeland.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;You and your people are saying<n id="2" /> about this place, &#8220;It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.&#8221; That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem<n id="3" /> will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs.<n id="1" />p>

Moreover the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true.<n id="2" />