Chapter 19 returns to the pottery imagery of the previous chapter. The warnings also continue, with the added emphasis that the door to a future that does not include Judah’s destruction will not remain open forever. The chapter addresses the practice of child sacrifice in Judah and just outside Jerusalem. It is used to depict the desolation Judah will experience because of its sins and deliberate waywardness.

Chapter 20 makes explicit what had been implied in the narrative until now: Babylon is the nation that conquers Judah and exile many of its inhabitants. The chapter also describes an encounter between Jeremiah and an officer of the temple. It includes the first explicit record of the persecution Jeremiah experienced because of his prophetic ministry. The incident sets the stage for an unambiguous description of what Judah will suffer. This did raise awareness of the threat posed by Babylon but did little to inspire repentance and a return to loyalty to the LORD alone.