1 The Word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Arise and go down to the potters house, and there I will cause you to hear My Words.
3 Then I went down to the potters house, and, behold, he was fashioning an object on the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, as the clay is in the potters hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 The instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up; or to pull it down, and to destroy it;
8 if that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will be moved with compassion regarding the evil that I thought to do to them.
9 And the instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and plant it;
10 if it does evil in My eyes, so that it does not obey My voice, then I will regret the good by which I said I would do good to them.
11 Now then, go speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 And they said, There is no hope; but we will walk after our own thoughts, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus says Jehovah, Ask now among the nations; who has heard the likes of this? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon avoid the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters be forsaken for that which comes from another place?
15 Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in byways, and not in the highway,
16 to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by will be appalled, and will wag his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Then they said, Come and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah. For the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.
19 Give attention to me; O Jehovah, and hear the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the hand of the sword. Let their wives be bereaved, and become widows. Let their men be slain to death, and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You suddenly bring a troop upon them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Jehovah, You know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.