18 *The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to athe potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the ||bwheels. 4 And the vessel ||that he made of clay cwas marred in the hand of the potter: so he †made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, dcannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, eas the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak fconcerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, gturn from their evil, hI will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: ireturn ye now every one from his evil way, and kmake your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, lThere is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do mthe imagination of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; nAsk ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done oa very horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave ||the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place pbe forsaken? 15 Because qmy people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to rvanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the sancient tpaths, to walk in paths, in a way not ucast up; 16 To make their land vdesolate, and a perpetual vhissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wwag his head. 17 I xwill scatter them as with yan east wind before the enemy; I will shew them zthe back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18 Then said they, Come, and alet us devise devices against Jeremiah; bfor the law shall not perish cfrom the priest, nor counsel from the wise, bnor the word from the prophet. Come, and dlet us smite him ||with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of ethem that contend with me. 20 fShall evil be recompensed for good? for gthey have digged ha pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore ideliver up their children to the famine, and †pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and ilet their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22 jLet a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for gthey have digged a pit to take me, and khid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me †to slay me: lforgive mnnot their iniquity, nneither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; odeal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

19 Thus saith the Lord, aGo and get ba potter’s earthen cbottle, and take of dthe ancients of the people, and of dthe ancients of the priests; 2 And go forth unto ethe valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of †the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And say, eeHear ye the word of the Lord, fO kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, ghis ears shall tingle. 4 Because hthey have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and hhave burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with ithe blood of innocents; 5 kThey have built also the high places of Baal, lto burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, klmwhich I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6 nTherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called yTophet, nor eThe valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will domake void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and pI will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and qtheir carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And rI will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And sI will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend tin the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10 Then ushalt thou break cthe bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 uAnd shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so vwill I break this people and this city, was one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot †be made whole again: and xthey shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city yas Tophet: 13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled yas the place of Tophet, because of all the houses zupon whose aroofs they have burned incense unto ball the host of heaven, and chave poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

14 Then came Jeremiah yfrom Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and dhe stood in the court of the Lord’s house; and said to all the people, 15 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because ethey have hardened their necks, fthat they might not hear my words.

20 Now aPashur the son of abImmer the priest, who was also cchief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in dthe stocks that were in the high egate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. 3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of dthe stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but ||Magor-missabib. 4 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee eea terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover fI will deliver all gthe strength of this city, and all hthe labours thereof, and all ithe precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and fcarry them to Babylon. 6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, jto whom thou hast prophesied lies.

7  O Lord, thou hast kdeceived me, and I was ||kdeceived:

lThou art stronger than I, and mhast prevailed:

I nam in derision daily,

Every one mocketh me.

8  For since I spake, I cried out,

I cried oviolence and spoil;

Because pthe word of the Lord was made qa reproach unto me,

And qa derision, daily.

9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him,

Nor speak any more in his name.

But lhis word was in rmine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones,

And sI was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

10  tFor I heard the defaming of many, ufear on every side.

vReport, wsay they, and we will report it.

†xAll my familiars ywatched for zmy halting, wsaying,

Peradventure he will be enticed, and mwe shall prevail against him,

And we shall take our revenge on him.

11  But athe Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one:

Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and bthey shall not prevail:

cThey shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper:

Their deverlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

12  But, O Lord of hosts, ethat triest the righteous,

And eseest the reins and the heart,

efLet me see thy vengeance on them:

eFor unto thee have I opened my cause.

13  gSing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord:

gFor he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

14  hCursed be the day wherein I was born:

Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.

15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying,

A man child is born unto thee;

Making him very glad.

16  And let that man be as ithe cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not:

And klet him hear the cry in the morning, and lthe shouting at noontide;

17  mBecause he slew me not from the womb;

Or that my mother might have been my grave,

And her womb to be always great with me.

18  hmnWherefore came I forth out of the womb

oTo see labour and sorrow,

That my days should be consumed with shame?

21 *The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent unto him aPashur the son of Melchiah, and bZephaniah the son of cMaaseiah the priest, saying, 2 dInquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for eNebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all fhis wondrous works, that he may go up from us. 3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to …