Original Word: חַרְסוּת
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: charcuwth
Pronunciation: khar-SOOTH
Phonetic Spelling: (khar-sooth')
KJV: east
NASB: potsherd
Word Origin: [from H2775 (חֶרֶס חַרסָה - Potsherd) (apparently in the sense of a red tile used for scraping)]

1. a potsherd
2. (by implication) a pottery
3. the name of a gate at Jerusalem

east

From cherec (apparently in the sense of a red tile used for scraping); a potsherd, i.e. (by implication) a pottery; the name of a gate at Jerusalem -- east.

see HEBREW cherec

Word Origin
from the same as cheres
Definition
potsherd
NASB Translation
potsherd (1).

חרסות Kt, חַרְסִית Qr noun feminine collective potsherd — מֶּתַח שַׁעַר הַחַרְסִ֯ות Jeremiah 19:2, designation of a gate in Jerusalem; opening of the gate of potsherds, i.e. where they were thrown (see Jeremiah 19:10; Jeremiah 19:11 and Gf); it led into the valley of Hinnom; ᵐ5 Ξαρς(ε)ιθ favours Qr **see Baldensperger^{PEF 1904, 136} on the crushing of potsherds in the Valley of Hinnom.

Canonical Placement

ḥarsûṯ appears once, in Jeremiah 19:2, rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as “the Potsherd Gate.”

Historical and Geographical Background

• The Potsherd Gate was an entrance on the southern side of ancient Jerusalem, opening toward the Valley of Ben-Hinnom.
• The vicinity served as a dumping ground for broken earthenware from the city’s potters, an activity attested by the thick strata of ceramic fragments uncovered in excavations along the slope below the modern Dung Gate.
• Because the gate lay between the temple mount and Topheth, it formed a natural stage for prophetic sign-acts aimed at Judah’s leaders who daily passed that way.

Prophetic Context in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 19 forms a unit with chapter 18. After the lesson at the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18:1-10) the prophet is commanded to “buy a potter’s earthen vessel” (Jeremiah 19:1) and take it to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom “near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate” (Jeremiah 19:2). There, in the presence of the elders, he proclaims judgment and then shatters the jar (Jeremiah 19:10-11). The chosen venue underscores three truths:

1. The broken pottery surrounding the gate provides a visible backdrop for the shattered vessel;
2. Topheth’s notoriety for child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:31) highlights Judah’s guilt;
3. The proximity to the city walls signals that the coming destruction will reach right into Jerusalem itself.

Theology and Symbolism

Pottery imagery runs throughout Scripture:
• God is the sovereign Potter (Isaiah 29:16; Romans 9:21).
• Broken pottery denotes irrevocable judgment (Psalm 2:9; Isaiah 30:14).
• Shards are emblematic of uncleanness and rejection (Leviticus 6:28; Job 2:8).

Placing Jeremiah’s sign-act at the Potsherd Gate combines all three motifs: Judah, once clay shaped for honor, is now a jar so hardened in rebellion that shattering is its only end.

Typological and Redemptive Connections

• Jeremiah’s broken jar anticipates the New Covenant promise of a renewed heart in 31:31-34; the old vessel must be destroyed for the new to come.
• The site foreshadows the “Potter’s Field” purchased with the betrayer’s silver (Matthew 27:7-10), linking the imagery of rejected clay with the rejection of the Messiah.
• Believers are “jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7); surrender to the Potter averts the fate dramatized at the Potsherd Gate.

Practical Ministry Implications

1. Location-based preaching: Jeremiah models how physical surroundings can reinforce a message.
2. Visual illustration: Object lessons, when faithful to Scripture, engage both mind and conscience.
3. Call to repentance: Judgment pronounced at the rubbish heap warns that unrepentant sin ends in ruin outside the city of God (Hebrews 13:12-13).
4. Hope beyond brokenness: The same God who shatters a vessel can remake it (Jeremiah 18:4); restoration is offered to any who yield to His hand.

Related Vocabulary and Themes

Other Hebrew terms drawn from the same verbal root (ḥ-r-ṣ) involve cutting or scratching and appear in references to pottery (e.g., ḥereṣ, shard) and craftsmanship. Together they enrich the biblical metaphor of God’s meticulous yet fearsome artistry in shaping human destiny.

Summary

ḥarsûṯ marks a gate strewn with shards—an enduring monument to the truth that stubborn clay eventually meets the righteous blow of the divine Potter. At the same time, it invites every generation to submit to God’s forming hand, lest the lesson of the Potsherd Gate be learned too late.

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