Jeremiah 18

The Potter and the Clay

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 "Arise, and go down to *ch. 19:1;1 Chr. 4:23;[Zech. 11:13]the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear*18:2 Or will cause you to hear my words." 3 So I went down to *ch. 19:1;1 Chr. 4:23;[Zech. 11:13]the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was *ch. 13:7spoiled in the potter’s hand, and *[Rom. 9:21]he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, *Isa. 45:9;See Rom. 9:20-24can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. *Job 10:9;Isa. 64:8Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will *ch. 1:10;42:10pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, *Ezek. 18:21turns from its evil, *ch. 26:3,13,19;Judg. 2:18;Jonah 3:10I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will *[See ver. 7above]build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. *ch. 35:15;2 Kgs. 17:13;Jonah 3:8Return, every one from his evil way, and *ch. 7:3;25:5;35:15amend your ways and your deeds.’

12 "But they say, *ch. 2:25‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to *See ch. 3:17the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 "Therefore thus says the Lord:

*ch. 2:10,11Ask among the nations,

Who has heard the like of this?

The virgin Israel

has done *ch. 5:30a very horrible thing.

14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave

the crags of Sirion?*18:14 Hebrew of the field

Do the mountain waters run dry,*18:14 Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up

the cold flowing streams?

15 *ch. 2:13,32;17:13But my people have forgotten me;

they make offerings to *ch. 2:5;10:15;16:19false gods;

they made them stumble in their ways,

*ch. 6:16in the ancient roads,

and to walk into side roads,

*[Isa. 57:14]not the highway,

16 making their land *ch. 19:8;25:9,11,18;49:13,17;50:13;51:37;2 Chr. 29:8a horror,

a thing *ch. 19:8;25:9,11,18;49:13,17;50:13;51:37;2 Chr. 29:8to be hissed at forever.

*ch. 50:13;Lam. 2:15Everyone who passes by it is horrified

*Job 16:4;Ps. 22:7;Matt. 27:39and shakes his head.

17 *Gen. 41:6,23,27;Ex. 10:13;Job 27:21;Ps. 48:7;Ezek. 27:26;Hos. 13:15;Jonah 4:8Like the east wind *ch. 13:24I will scatter them

before the enemy.

*[ch. 2:27]I will show them my back, not my face,

in the day of their calamity."

18 Then they said, *ch. 11:19"Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, *[ch. 2:8;5:13,31;6:13] for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. *ch. 9:3,8;Job 5:21;[Ps. 31:20]Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."

19 Hear me, O Lord,

and *Ps. 35:1;Isa. 49:25listen to the voice of my adversaries.

20 *Ps. 35:12Should good be repaid with evil?

Yet *Ps. 35:7;57:6;119:85they have dug a pit for my life.

*[Neh. 13:14]Remember how I stood before you

to speak good for them,

to turn away your wrath from them.

21 Therefore *Ps. 109:10deliver up their children to famine;

give them over to the power of the sword;

let their wives become childless *Ps. 109:9and widowed.

May their men meet death by pestilence,

their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.

22 *[ch. 20:16] May a cry be heard from their houses,

when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!

For *[See ver. 20above] they have dug a pit to take me

*Ps. 140:5and laid snares for my feet.

23 Yet *[Ps. 35:22] you, O Lord, know

all their plotting to kill me.

*Neh. 4:5Forgive not their iniquity,

nor blot out their sin from your sight.

Let them be overthrown before you;

deal with them in the time of your anger.