Jeremiah 18:1–17

The Potter and the Clay

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying,

²“Arise and ^ago down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.”

³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the ¹wheel.

⁴But the vessel that he was making of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he turned around and made it into another vessel, according to what was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

⁶“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the ^aclay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

⁷“At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^auproot, to tear down, or to make it perish;

^8abut if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ^1brelent concerning the calamity I planned to do against it.

⁹“Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^abuild up or to plant it;

¹⁰but if it does ^aevil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will ^1brelent concerning the good which I promised, to do good to it.

¹¹“So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^aforming calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh ^bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and do good in your ways and your deeds.” ’

¹²“But ^athey will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the ^bstubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says Yahweh,

‘^aAsk now among the nations,

Who ever heard the like of ¹this?

The ^bvirgin of Israel

Has done a most ^cappalling thing.

¹⁴‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?

Or is the cold flowing water from a strange land ever uprooted?

¹⁵‘For ^aMy people have forgotten Me;

^bThey burn incense ¹to worthless gods,

And they ²have stumbled ³from their ways,

⁴From the ^cancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a ^dhighway,

¹⁶To make their land an ^aobject of horror,

An object of perpetual ^bhissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be ¹horrified

And ^cshake his head.

¹⁷‘Like an ^aeast wind I will ^bscatter them

Before the enemy;

I will ¹show them ^cMy back and not My face

^dIn the day of their disaster.’”