At the Potter’s House
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,(B) Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,(C) torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent(D) and not inflict on it the disaster(E) I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built(F) up and planted, 10 and if it does evil(G) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider(H) the good I had intended to do for it.(I)
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster(J) for you and devising a plan(K) against you. So turn(L) from your evil ways,(M) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’(N) 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.(O) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.(P)’”
13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Inquire among the nations:
Who has ever heard anything like this?(Q)
A most horrible(R) thing has been done
by Virgin(S) Israel.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten(T) me;
they burn incense(U) to worthless idols,(V)
which made them stumble(W) in their ways,
in the ancient paths.(X)
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.(Y)
16 Their land will be an object of horror(Z)
and of lasting scorn;(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled(AB)
and will shake their heads.(AC)
17 Like a wind(AD) from the east,
I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face(AE)
in the day of their disaster.”
18 They said, “Come, let’s make plans(AF) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest(AG) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,(AH) nor the word from the prophets.(AI) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues(AJ) and pay no attention to anything he says.”
19 Listen to me, Lord;
hear what my accusers(AK) are saying!
20 Should good be repaid with evil?(AL)
Yet they have dug a pit(AM) for me.
Remember that I stood(AN) before you
and spoke in their behalf(AO)
to turn your wrath away from them.
21 So give their children over to famine;(AP)
hand them over to the power of the sword.(AQ)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;(AR)
let their men be put to death,
their young men(AS) slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry(AT) be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit(AU) to capture me
and have hidden snares(AV) for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill(AW) me.
Do not forgive(AX) their crimes
or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.(AY)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
Cross references
- Jeremiah 18:6 : S Isa 29:16; 45:9; Ro 9:20-21
- Jeremiah 18:6 : S Ge 2:7
- Jeremiah 18:7 : Jer 1:10
- Jeremiah 18:8 : S Ex 32:14; Ps 25:11; Jer 26:13; 36:3; Jnh 3:8-10
- Jeremiah 18:8 : Jer 31:28; 42:10; Da 9:14; Hos 11:8-9; Joel 2:13; Jnh 4:2
- Jeremiah 18:9 : Jer 1:10; 31:28
- Jeremiah 18:10 : Eze 33:18
- Jeremiah 18:10 : 1Sa 2:29-30; 13:13
- Jeremiah 18:10 : S Jer 1:10
- Jeremiah 18:11 : S 2Ki 22:16; S Jer 4:6
- Jeremiah 18:11 : ver 18
- Jeremiah 18:11 : S Dt 4:30; S 2Ki 17:13; Isa 1:16-19
- Jeremiah 18:11 : S Jer 7:3
- Jeremiah 18:11 : S Job 16:17
- Jeremiah 18:12 : S Isa 57:10
- Jeremiah 18:12 : S Jer 3:17
- Jeremiah 18:13 : S Isa 66:8
- Jeremiah 18:13 : S Jer 5:30
- Jeremiah 18:13 : S 2Ki 19:21
- Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 17:10
- Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 1:13; Jer 44:15, 19
- Jeremiah 18:15 : Jer 10:15; 51:18; Hos 11:2
- Jeremiah 18:15 : Eze 44:12; Mal 2:8
- Jeremiah 18:15 : Jer 6:16
- Jeremiah 18:15 : S Isa 57:14; 62:10
- Jeremiah 18:16 : S Dt 28:37; Jer 25:9; Eze 33:28-29
- Jeremiah 18:16 : Jer 19:8; 42:18
- Jeremiah 18:16 : S Lev 26:32
- Jeremiah 18:16 : S 2Ki 19:21; S Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; La 1:12
- Jeremiah 18:17 : S Job 7:10; Jer 13:24
- Jeremiah 18:17 : S 2Ch 29:6; S Jer 2:27
- Jeremiah 18:18 : ver 11; Jer 11:19
- Jeremiah 18:18 : Jer 2:8; Hag 2:11; Mal 2:7
- Jeremiah 18:18 : S Job 5:13; Eze 7:26
- Jeremiah 18:18 : Jer 5:13
- Jeremiah 18:18 : Ps 52:2; 64:2-8; S Jer 9:3
- Jeremiah 18:19 : Ps 71:13
- Jeremiah 18:20 : S Ge 44:4
- Jeremiah 18:20 : Ps 35:7; 57:6; S 119:85
- Jeremiah 18:20 : Jer 15:1
- Jeremiah 18:20 : S Ge 20:7; S Dt 9:19; Ps 106:23; Jer 14:7-9
- Jeremiah 18:21 : Jer 11:22; 14:16
- Jeremiah 18:21 : S Ps 63:10
- Jeremiah 18:21 : S 1Sa 15:33; Ps 109:9; S Isa 47:9; La 5:3
- Jeremiah 18:21 : S Isa 9:17
- Jeremiah 18:22 : S Jer 6:26
- Jeremiah 18:22 : S Ps 119:85
- Jeremiah 18:22 : Ps 35:15; 140:5; Jer 5:26; 20:10
- Jeremiah 18:23 : S Jer 11:21; 37:15
- Jeremiah 18:23 : S Ne 4:5
- Jeremiah 18:23 : Ps 59:5; S Jer 10:24