Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potters vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. Thus I will do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods. Jeremiah 19:10-13
The LORD is longsuffering, but his longsuffering cannot be taken for granted. Here, he announces through his prophet he will break the people and the city—in such a way that cannot be mended. If God is a God of love, it is a fierce love indeed.
