Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 19:10-13

"Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah 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 in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth: and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even 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." — Jeremiah 19:10-13 (ASV)

Here, the prophet signifies the previously mentioned punishment through an action.

1. He describes the action: you shall break the jar. Behold, the sovereign Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall break the earthen vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the high places brought low (Isaiah 10:33).

2. He explains the meaning of the action: and you will say to them.

   • Concerning the slaughter of the people: thus shall I destroy. He shall be broken small, as a clay jar is broken with a mighty destruction (Isaiah 30:14).

   • Concerning the place of burial: and they shall be buried in Tophet, because of the multitude of the slain. The same thing is said above in Jeremiah 7:32.

   • Concerning the destruction of the city: thus I shall make it like Tophet—unclean and without houses.

     The phrase Upon whose roofs refers to the tops of their houses, which were flat, where they would worship idols. You also are gone up wholly on the housetops, full of clamor, a populous city, a joyous city (Isaiah 22:23).