^18:1The Lord said to Jeremiah:¹^18:2“Go down at once² to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.”³^18:3So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working⁴ at his wheel.⁵^18:4Now and then⁶ there would be something wrong⁷ with the pot he was molding from the clay⁸ with his hands. So he would rework⁹ the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit.¹⁰

^18:5Then the Lord said to me,¹¹^18:6“I, the Lord, say:¹² ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay?¹³ In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

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Footnotes

1 Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:” This same formula occurs ten other times in Jeremiah. It has already occurred at 7:1 and 11:1.
2 Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
3 Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”
4 Heb “And behold he was working.”
5 At his wheel (Heb “at the two stones”). The Hebrew expression is very descriptive of the construction of a potter’s wheel which consisted of two stones joined by a horizontal shaft. The potter rotated the wheel with his feet on the lower wheel and worked the clay with his hands on the upper. For a picture of a potter working at his wheel see I. Ben-Dor, “Potter’s Wheel,” 3:846. See also the discussion regarding the making of pottery in J. L. Kelso, “Pottery,” 3:846–53.
6 The verbs here denote repeated action. They are the Hebrew perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive. The text then reads somewhat literally, “Whenever the vessel he was molding … was ruined, he would remold …” For this construction see 2: §118.n and 2: §167.b, and compare the usage in Amos 4:7–8.
7 Something was wrong with the clay—either there was a lump in it, or it was too moist or not moist enough, or it had some other imperfection. In any case the vessel was “ruined” or “spoiled” or defective in the eyes of the potter. This same verb has been used of the linen shorts that were “ruined” and hence were “good for nothing” in Jer 13:7. The nature of the clay and how it responded to the potter’s hand determined the kind of vessel that he made of it. He did not throw the clay away. This is the basis for the application in vv. 7–10 to any nation and to the nation of Israel in particular vv. 10–17.
8 The usage of the preposition בְּ (bet) to introduce the material from which something is made in Exod 38:8 and 1 Kgs 15:22 should lay to rest the rather forced construction that some (like J. Bright, Jeremiah [], 121) put on the variant כַּחֹמֶר (kakhomer) found in a few Hebrew . Bright renders that phrase as an elliptical “as clay sometimes will.” The phrase is missing from the Greek version.
9 Heb “he would turn and work.” This is an example of hendiadys where one of the two verbs joined by “and” becomes the adverbial modifier of the other. The verb “turn” is very common in this construction (see 998 שׁוּב Qal.8 for references).
10 Heb “as it was right in his eyes to do [or work it].” For this idiom see Judg 14:3, 7; 1 Sam 18:20, 26; 2 Sam 17:4.
11 Heb “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying.”
12 This phrase (literally “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24.
13 The words “deals with the clay” are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal my words to you.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

The word of the Lord came to me: “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

NLTNew Living Translation

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, “Stand up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter’s wheels. And the vessel that he was making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he made again another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?” declares Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

KJV 1900King James Version

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

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