Introduction: From the Parable of the Potter to the Parable of the Flask
Chapter 19 of Sefer Yirmiyahu continues a theme introduced in the preceding chapters. There, we saw that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sent Yirmiyahu to the potter's house so that he would witness firsthand how the potter takes clay and shapes it into a vessel, and when something goes awry, he returns the clay to its raw state and begins shaping it anew. Thus, said the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Jewish people are like clay in the hands of the potter, and everything I do with them is meant to rectify them and elevate them to a higher spiritual standing. Now comes another parable, far more severe: the parable of the flask.
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הָלֹךְ וְקָנִיתָ בַקְבֻּק יוֹצֵר חָרֶשׂ וּמִזִּקְנֵי הָעָם וּמִזִּקְנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים׃ - Thus said Hashem: Go and acquire an earthenware potter's flask, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the Kohanim.
Before delving into the conceptual message, let us understand what a bakbuk (flask) is. The Metzudat Tzion explains that this is the name of a vessel with a narrow mouth. And why was it given this name? Because when liquid is poured from it, a sound like "bak-bak-bak" is heard. We similarly find the phrase "a flask (bakbuk) of honey."
The Malbim explains the progression: The Holy One, Blessed be He, commands him to acquire a flask crafted by an earthenware potter. The emphasis on "an earthenware potter" is not coincidental - it could have been a flask made of wood or metal, yet specifically an earthenware vessel is required here. For now the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: the Jewish people are not always like malleable clay in the hand of the potter. When they abandon the Master of the World and engage in idol worship, they resemble an earthenware vessel that has already been fired in a kiln. In such a state, there is no way to return it to raw clay and reshape it anew. Its shattering is its only recourse. As long as the vessel is at the stage of raw clay, rectification is possible; once it has become a finished flask, if it shatters, it can never be repaired.
And why specifically a flask, rather than a jug, pot, or cup? The Malbim explains that a flask has a narrow neck. People would typically store honey inside such a flask, and once the honey solidified inside - during the winter or the like - it would no longer pour out, and there was no way to extract it. What would they do? An earthenware vessel is inexpensive, made merely of earth, so they would smash the vessel and retrieve the honey from within.
The same applies to the parable's deeper meaning. The Jewish people were filled with wicked counsel and heretical thoughts, which could not be extracted through the rebuke of the prophets. There was no choice but to break the vessel in order to extract what lay within, "to remove the corrupt counsel and bring an end to sin," in the words of the Malbim - lehatem in the sense of concluding and nullifying the sin. Just as a flask must be shattered to extract the honey, so must they undergo a breaking to purge their inner corruption - though with the flask it is sweet honey, whereas here it is spiritual decay. This is the crisis the nation had to endure in order to be refined and rid themselves of their corruption.
Regarding the end of the verse, "and of the elders of the people and of the elders of the Kohanim," the Malbim notes that the verb applies to two clauses - the word halokh ("go") extends to both: go and acquire an earthenware potter's flask, and go with the elders of the people and the elders of the Kohanim, having them accompany you. This is similar to the well-known construction in the prayer Aleinu, "that He did not make our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude," where the negative "did not make" at the beginning carries over to "our lot" as well.
To the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and the Potsherd Gate
וְיָצָאתָ אֶל־גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם אֲשֶׁר פֶּתַח שַׁעַר הַחַרְסִית וְקָרָאתָ שָּׁם אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר־אֲדַבֵּר אֵלֶיךָ׃ - And go out to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall speak to you.
The Valley of Ben-Hinnom was the place where they used to burn their children in the fire, as we saw earlier in Chapter 7, verse 31. And what is the "Potsherd Gate" (Sha'ar HaCharsit)? Rashi explains that this is the Dung Gate (Sha'ar Ha'ashpot), and it was called Charsit because that was where people would discard broken earthenware sherds (charasim). This also aligns with Targum Yonatan, who translates it as "T'ra Kulkelta" - t'ra means gate, and kulkelta means a refuse heap, a term frequently found in the Gemara.
However, the Malbim - a view to which Radak also inclines - explains that the Potsherd Gate was actually the Eastern Gate. For the worship of Molech was a form of sun worship, and these idolaters were called "sun-pillar worshippers" (ovdei chamanim). The Eastern Gate was the exit through which they would go out to greet the rising sun and bow down to it, with their backs toward the Sanctuary of Hashem. And how is the name Charsit related to the sun? The Malbim explains that cheres means sun in the Holy Tongue, as in the verse, "Who speaks to the sun (cheres) and it does not shine," and as Shimshon said when the Philistines solved his riddle, "before the sun went down (beterem yavo hacharsah)," and as with Yehoshua, who was buried in "Timnat Cheres," regarding which Chazal said that they placed the image of the sun upon his tomb to signify: this is the man who caused the sun to stand still. Thus, the Gate of Charsit is the gate facing east, toward the sun that they worshipped.
The Prophecy: A Calamity that Will Make Every Ear Ring
וְאָמַרְתָּ שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר־יְהֹוָה מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וְיֹשְׁבֵי יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הִנְנִי מֵבִיא רָעָה עַל־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר כׇּל־שֹׁמְעָהּ תִּצַּלְנָה אׇזְנָיו׃ - And you shall say: Hear the word of Hashem, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus said Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing a disaster upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears will ring.
I am bringing upon this place a calamity such that whoever hears of it, "his ears will ring" - it will be like the clashing noise of cymbals in his ears, a rattling vibration, as the Radak puts it.
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עֲזָבֻנִי וַיְנַכְּרוּ אֶת־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וַיְקַטְּרוּ־בוֹ לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יְדָעוּם הֵמָּה וַאֲבוֹתֵיהֶם וּמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וּמָלְאוּ אֶת־הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה דַּם נְקִיִּם׃ - Because they have forsaken Me, and alienated this place, and burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah knew, and they filled this place with the blood of innocents.
"And alienated" (vayanakeru) - they treated this place as foreign before Me. The Radak explains this along the lines of "foreign gods of the land" (elohei nechar ha'aretz), meaning that idolatry is foreign to the Land, for the Land cannot endure idolatry. And the Malbim explains vayanakeru to mean that they designated this place exclusively for idolatry.
And do not say: What could they do, they are like captured children, merely following the customs of their fathers. To this, the verse says, "whom neither they nor their fathers knew" - these were novelties introduced by the recent generation. A new form of idolatry that their ancestors never knew at all, something entirely unheard of before. "And they filled this place with the blood of innocents" - for they would sacrifice human lives, innocent blood, to the Molech.
The High Places of Ba'al: "Which I Never Commanded, Nor Spoke, Nor Entered My Mind"
וּבָנוּ אֶת־בָּמוֹת הַבַּעַל לִשְׂרֹף אֶת־בְּנֵיהֶם בָּאֵשׁ עֹלוֹת לַבָּעַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא־צִוִּיתִי וְלֹא דִבַּרְתִּי וְלֹא עָלְתָה עַל־לִבִּי׃ - And they built the high places of Ba'al to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al, which I never commanded, nor spoke, nor did it ever enter My mind.
Here the verse elaborates on how they filled the place with innocent blood: they built the high places of Ba'al - the idolatrous worship - to burn their sons in fire, offering them as burnt offerings to Ba'al. The Malbim explains: they built the high places of Topheth, and in addition to passing their children through the fire to Molech, they also offered human burnt offerings, thereby spilling innocent blood.
And why this threefold repetition: "I never commanded, nor spoke, nor entered My mind"? The Malbim explains: when a person devises a plan, first the concept enters his mind, then he speaks about it, and finally he puts it into action and issues a command. "Entered My mind" refers to the initial thought; "spoke" refers to discussing how to carry it out; "commanded" is the final directive for execution. Since the Holy One, Blessed be He, is expressing a negation here, He begins from the end: I never issued a command for a person to sacrifice human offerings. And if you might say, perhaps You did not command it, but You spoke of it? I did not speak of it either. And perhaps it entered Your mind? It did not enter My mind either. It proceeds from the most explicit to the most subtle: not this, not that, and not even the other; it never even crossed My thoughts.
Our Sages in the Gemara (Ta'anit 4a) expounded: "Which I never commanded" - this refers to Mesha, king of Moab; "nor spoke" - this refers to Yiftach; "nor did it enter My mind" - this refers to the binding of Isaac (Akeidat Yitzchak). The Malbim explains that these are arranged in reverse chronological order. Mesha, king of Moab, took and slaughtered his son upon the wall; the Midrash relates that he asked why Israel prevailed, and was told: their father Abraham bound his son, almost sacrificing him. Mesha said: he almost sacrificed his son, but I will actually do so! He took and slaughtered his son, and Scripture states that this provoked great fury against Israel (as discussed at length in the shiurim on Sefer Melachim). Regarding this, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I never commanded him to take and slaughter his son. "Nor spoke" - to Yiftach, who did such a deed to his daughter. Although there is a dispute whether this is literal, meaning he killed her, or whether he merely secluded her in an isolated house, nonetheless, according to the view that he killed her, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: such a thing I never spoke of.
"Nor did it enter My mind" - and if you might ask: but with Isaac, did not the Holy One, Blessed be He, say, "Take now your son"? To this He says that it never even entered My mind. Do not think it entered My mind and that I subsequently reconsidered; rather, it never entered My mind at all, for what did I actually say? "Bring him up upon the altar." You have brought him up - now take him down. When Abraham asked: Yesterday You told me to offer him up as a burnt offering, the Holy One, Blessed be He, answered him that the very act of bringing him up onto the altar was considered an offering before Me; I never asked that you slaughter him.
From here, come and see that it never entered His mind that they should offer human sacrifices. And do not think that there were progressive stages here - that regarding Yitzchak it only entered His mind, regarding Yiftach He already spoke, and regarding Mesha He commanded. Therefore He tells you: it did not enter My mind, nor did I speak, nor did I command. I never desired human sacrifices.
From Topheth to the Valley of Slaughter
לָכֵן הִנֵּה־יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וְלֹא־יִקָּרֵא לַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה עוֹד הַתֹּפֶת וְגֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם כִּי אִם־גֵּיא הַהֲרֵגָה׃ - Therefore, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter.
Why was the place called "Topheth"? Because they would make two pyres and pass the child between them; the child would pass through and burn, his screams horrific. To drown out his cries, they would beat on drums (tupim), and thus it was called Topheth - so the father would not hear the groans of his burning son and be moved to pity. This is also why it was called "the Valley of Ben-Hinnom": Hinnom derives from nehimah (groaning), for the child would groan, shriek, and cry out as he burned. The Holy One, blessed be He, tells them: This place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter - measure for measure, these people will die right there in that very place.
וּבַקֹּתִי אֶת־עֲצַת יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וְהִפַּלְתִּים בַּחֶרֶב לִפְנֵי אֹיְבֵיהֶם וּבְיַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשָׁם וְנָתַתִּי אֶת־נִבְלָתָם לְמַאֲכָל לְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְבֶהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ׃ - And I will empty out the counsel of Yehudah and Yerushalayim in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.
"U-vakoti" is spelled with a kuf and a tav, related to the expression "bukah u-mevukah u-mevulakah" in the Book of Nachum. He used this specific word intentionally: it echoes the bakbuk (flask) mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, creating a play on words. He presented the parable of the flask, and now in the application He uses the very same root. Rashi explains "u-vakoti" as "I will empty out." Likewise, "bukah u-mevukah u-mevulakah" means empty, emptied out, and breached of walls. Today, people use this phrase colloquially to mean chaos and disarray, but that is not its true meaning; it signifies emptying, referring to the invaders entering Jerusalem, taking all the silver and gold, and stripping it completely bare.
Thus, "and I will empty out the counsel of Yehudah and Yerushalayim" means: I will drain their wicked schemes from within them. As the Malbim explained, just as one must shatter the flask to extract the hardened honey from its interior, so will I purge the evil from them through shattering. And how? "And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth."
וְשַׂמְתִּי אֶת־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת לְשַׁמָּה וְלִשְׁרֵקָה כֹּל עֹבֵר עָלֶיהָ יִשֹּׁם וְיִשְׁרֹק עַל־כׇּל־מַכֹּתֶהָ׃ - And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss at all its plagues.
This is the punishment for alienating this place and treating it like a foreign land. "Leshammah" is an expression of desolation (shemamah), and "li-shrekah" means that everyone passing by will whistle in shock and disbelief, being appalled and hissing over all its afflictions.
Measure for Measure: And I Will Feed Them the Flesh of Their Sons
וְהַאֲכַלְתִּים אֶת־בְּשַׂר בְּנֵיהֶם וְאֵת בְּשַׂר בְּנֹתֵיהֶם וְאִישׁ בְּשַׂר־רֵעֵהוּ יֹאכֵלוּ בְּמָצוֹר וּבְמָצוֹק אֲשֶׁר יָצִיקוּ לָהֶם אֹיְבֵיהֶם וּמְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשָׁם׃ - And I will feed them the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of his fellow in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will distress them.
A measure-for-measure retribution: they offered up their sons as burnt offerings to the Ba'al, and therefore they will now eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. So harsh will be the siege and the distress inflicted by their enemies that a person will be unable to master his hunger and will consume the flesh of his own sons and daughters. We find such shocking and horrifying accounts in Sefer Yosippon (and whoever is interested can listen to the series on Chanukah, where this subject is discussed at length), and likewise a terrifying description is cited in the series on Eichah. In the Prophets, we also find the woman who cried out to Yehoram son of Achav, recounting that yesterday they ate her son, and today they were to eat her friend's son, yet the friend hid her child; she came before the king so that he would judge and compel her to surrender her son to be eaten. These horrific events were already foretold in the Torah: "and they shall eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters." The Holy One, blessed be He, warns them that measure for measure, this dreadful prophecy will be fulfilled now in Jerusalem as well.
A beautiful explanation was once brought: it is written that the Holy One, Blessed is He, will in the future transform all the curses into blessings. People asked - what blessing could there possibly be in "they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters"? It was explained that a generation will come in which parents will want their children to visit them, but the children will no longer rely on the kashrut standards of the parents. So the son says to the father: "Father, I will bring the meat, I will buy it." It turns out that "they will eat the meat of their sons and the meat of their daughters" - the parents will eat the meat that their sons bring. "And he will turn the heart of the children to their fathers" - the children will repent and bring their fathers to repentance as well, and the parents will eat from the meat that the son brings home.
Breaking the Flask
וְשָׁבַרְתָּ הַבַּקְבֻּק לְעֵינֵי הָאֲנָשִׁים הַהֹלְכִים אוֹתָךְ׃ - And you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you.
As explained earlier: when one wishes to empty out what is inside, when congealed honey is stuck inside, one breaks it.
וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת כָּכָה אֶשְׁבֹּר אֶת־הָעָם הַזֶּה וְאֶת־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת כַּאֲשֶׁר יִשְׁבֹּר אֶת־כְּלִי הַיּוֹצֵר אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יוּכַל לְהֵרָפֵה עוֹד וּבְתֹפֶת יִקְבְּרוּ מֵאֵין מָקוֹם לִקְבּוֹר׃ - And you shall say to them: Thus said the Lord of Hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel that can never be mended again; and in Topheth they will bury, for lack of room to bury elsewhere.
"So will I break this people" - not like the breaking of clay in the potter's hand that we saw earlier, where if it is ruined, it is taken, kneaded again, and refashioned into a new vessel; rather, "as one breaks a potter's vessel" - a vessel that has already been fired and completed, and then "that can never be mended again": once such a vessel is shattered, it cannot be repaired. Rashi explains that "it can never be mended" refers to the people; but the city, concerning which it was said that it would be like Topheth, is destined to be purified in the future. The one that cannot be healed is the people.
"And in Topheth they will bury, for lack of room to bury elsewhere" - Topheth is a place of idolatry, an impure site that had been defiled. Even so, since there will be no room left to bury the dead, they will bury them even in this defiled place.
כֵּן־אֶעֱשֶׂה לַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וּלְיוֹשְׁבָיו וְלָתֵת אֶת־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת כְּתֹפֶת׃ - Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.
This is the reason they will bury in Topheth: to defile the place just as they defiled it. And as for shattering them, it is in order to do so to the inhabitants of the place. And not only will Topheth be filled with human corpses, but "making this city like Topheth" - the entire city will turn into one large graveyard, like Topheth for burying the dead. And all this corresponds measure for measure to the acts of Topheth, where they used to sacrifice their children.
וְהָיוּ בָּתֵּי יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וּבָתֵּי מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה כִּמְקוֹם הַתֹּפֶת הַטְּמֵאִים לְכֹל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר קִטְּרוּ עַל־גַּגֹּתֵיהֶם לְכֹל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהַסֵּךְ נְסָכִים לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים׃ - And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be like the place of Topheth, defiled, all the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out libations to other gods.
These houses are also defiled, and why? Because they burned incense on their rooftops to idols, giving them the legal status of an idolatrous altar. And just as we said that everything will become like Topheth, so too their homes will become like Topheth, subject to smashing and demolition. For these were houses in which idolatry was practiced, and a place where they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out libations to other gods is judged as a house of idolatry, which must be demolished.
A Mission Commanded and a Mission Not Commanded
וַיָּבֹא יִרְמְיָהוּ מֵהַתֹּפֶת אֲשֶׁר שְׁלָחוֹ יְהֹוָה שָׁם לְהִנָּבֵא וַיַּעֲמֹד בַּחֲצַר בֵּית־יְהֹוָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָם׃ - Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the courtyard of the House of the Lord, and said to all the people:
There is an important nuance here, which serves as an introduction to the next chapter. The Malbim explains: The Holy One, Blessed be He, sent Jeremiah to prophesy only there, in Topheth, in the very place where all those abominations had taken place. However, Jeremiah's subsequent decision to go and prophesy these words in the courtyard of the House of the Lord was on his own initiative; he had not been commanded to do so.
כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הִנְנִי מֵבִי אֶל־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת וְעַל־כׇּל־עָרֶיהָ אֵת כׇּל־הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתִּי עָלֶיהָ כִּי הִקְשׁוּ אֶת־עׇרְפָּם לְבִלְתִּי שְׁמוֹעַ אֶת־דְּבָרָי׃ - Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have spoken against it, because they stiffened their necks, refusing to hear My words.
What is the practical difference of this emphasis? In the next chapter, we will see that Jeremiah was struck because of this prophecy. How could they harm the prophet, when God had promised to protect him? The answer is: they struck him over the prophecy that he was not explicitly commanded to deliver there. For the prophecy he had been commanded to deliver, they did not touch him. That is why the verse emphasizes, "Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy" - and notice that nothing was done to him there. But when he arrived at the courtyard of the House of the Lord and prophesied there, a place where he was not explicitly told to go - not that it was forbidden, for he was ultimately delivering the word of the Lord, but there was simply no command - since there was no command, we will see how this allowed them to harm him.
"The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel" - Consolation Amid Rebuke
Radak finds in the words "Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel" an underlying positive message toward the people, despite all the harsh words. God is the Master of the hosts above and below, yet the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I am the God of Israel. Even though they sin before Me and have worshipped other gods, I remain their God; for not all of them have transgressed against Me, and some of the transgressors will yet repent. The bond between us will never be severed, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, remains the God of Israel.
And why does it emphasize "the Lord of Hosts"? To say: I will mobilize an earthly host against you. All legions belong to Him, the hosts of heaven and the hosts of earth, and He says: I can bring against you the earthly armies - the army of Nebuchadnezzar, the enemy forces that will advance against you. "Upon this city and upon all its towns" - the cities of Judah surrounding greater Jerusalem, which were considered the daughter cities of Judah.
"Behold, I Am Bringing" - A Prophecy Accompanied by an Action
The Malbim asks: What is meant by "Behold, I am bringing"? If the prophecy has already been spoken, it will certainly come to pass, so why the need for this emphasis? Rather, when a prophet performs a physical action accompanying the prophecy, the Ramban explains that this indicates the prophecy will undoubtedly be fulfilled. We have a general rule: The Holy One, Blessed be He, never retracts prophecies of good (save for one exceptional case); as for prophecies of calamity, if the people repent, God relents. The Ramban explains: this holds true only as long as no physical action accompanied the prophecy; but once an action has been performed, the prophecy will be realized under any circumstance.
The underlying concept (as elaborated upon in Mishnat HaChalomot, and summarized here briefly): The moment an action is performed, it removes the prophecy from the realm of abstract speech and transfers it from the potential of the spoken word into the realm of concrete realization. When one takes a flask, shatters it, and proclaims, "So shall Judah be broken," the decree has already begun to manifest in physical reality through that act of shattering - and there is no turning back from it. Conversely, if the prophecy had remained merely spoken words - "Judah shall be broken" - and they subsequently repented, the words would remain mere words, and no harm would befall Judah. But once the decree descends and is actualized through an action, it will come to pass no matter what.
Therefore, he informs them here: "Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have spoken against it" - what I spoke is now becoming an actuality; the verdict has already been sealed. Do not imagine that this is merely a contingent intent on God's part, allowing for the possibility of repentance; because they stiffened their neck and refuse to repent, it has taken on the status of a final decree, as we will see later in chapter 21: "I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good."
In summary:
Chapter 19 marks a sharp transition from the parable of the potter to the parable of the flask: as long as the people are like clay in the hands of the potter, there is hope through reshaping, but once they have become like an earthenware vessel fired in a kiln - its breaking is its only remedy. The flask, with its narrow neck from which congealed honey cannot be removed except by shattering it, is the precise parable for a people filled with evil counsel and thoughts of heresy that the rebuke of the prophets cannot extract. Yirmiyahu is sent to Gei Ben-Hinnom, the site of the Topheth where they sacrificed children to Molech, and there he proclaims: "Which I did not command, nor did I speak, nor did it enter My heart" - the Holy One, Blessed be He, never desired human sacrifices. And measure for measure: the place of Topheth will be called the Valley of Slaughter, the city will become an object of desolation and hissing, and those who offered their children to the fire will eat the flesh of their sons in the siege. The shattering of the flask before the eyes of the elders is not mere theater: once a symbolic act accompanies prophecy, there is no longer any turning back - the decree has descended and been sealed. And yet, amid the rebuke stands the title "the God of Israel": the bond has not been severed, and some of the transgressors will yet return.