Jeremiah 19:11
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD 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 them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Disregard for God's spoken warnings brings swift judgment upon Jerusalem and its people that cannot be turned back. The sentence is pictured as the smashing of a potter's earthen bottle, shattered so completely that it can never be made whole again. That announced breaking was to overtake not only the city itself but also the towns round about it.
The same breaking of the potter's vessel also pictures the need for settled and regular lines of work to be broken up. They must be reconstructed rather than left in their former shape. Only in this way can the work advance into fields that have been neglected.