18The Lord said to me, ²“Go down to the potter’s house, where I will give you my message.” ³So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. ⁴Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.

⁵Then the Lord said to me, ⁶“Haven’t I the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter’s hands. ⁷If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom, ⁸but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said I would. ⁹On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant or build up any nation or kingdom, ¹⁰but then that nation disobeys me and does evil, I will not do what I said I would. ¹¹Now then, tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful lives—to change their ways and the things they are doing. ¹²They will answer, ‘No, why should we? We will all be just as stubborn and evil as we want to be.’ ”

The People Reject the

¹³The Lord says,

“Ask every nation if such a thing

has ever happened before.

The people of Israel have done a terrible thing!

¹⁴Are Lebanon’s rocky heights ever without snow?

Do its cool mountain streams ever run dry?

¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten me;

they burn incense to idols.

They have stumbled in the way they should go,

they no longer follow the old ways;

they walk on unmarked paths.

¹⁶They have made this land a thing of horror,

to be despised for ever.

All who pass by will be shocked at what they see;

they will shake their heads in amazement.

¹⁷I will scatter my people before their enemies,

like dust blown by the east wind.

I will turn my back on them;

I will not help them when the disaster comes.”

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