Jeremiah 18

At the Potter’s House

18This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But 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.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^m in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,ⁿ Israel. ⁷If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^o torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^p and not inflict on it the disaster^q I had planned. ⁹And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^r up and planted, ¹⁰and if it does evil^s in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^t the good I had intended to do for it.^u

¹¹“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster^v for you and devising a plan^w against you. So turn^x from your evil ways,^y each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^{z 12}But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^a We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^b’ ”

¹³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:

Who has ever heard anything like this?^c

A most horrible^d thing has been done

by Virgin^e Israel.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon

ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

ever stop flowing?^a

¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten^f me;

they burn incense^g to worthless idols,^h

which made them stumbleⁱ in their ways,

in the ancient paths.^j

They made them walk in byways,

on roads not built up.^k

¹⁶Their land will be an object of horror^l

and of lasting scorn;^m

all who pass by will be appalledⁿ

and will shake their heads.^o

¹⁷Like a wind^p from the east,

I will scatter them before their enemies;

I will show them my back and not my face^q

in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸They said, “Come, let’s make plans^r against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest^s will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,^t nor the word from the prophets.^u So come, let’s attack him with our tongues^v and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹Listen to me, Lord;

hear what my accusers^w are saying!

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil?^x

Yet they have dug a pit^y for me.

Remember that I stood^z before you

and spoke in their behalf^a

to turn your wrath away from them.

²¹So give their children over to famine;^b

hand them over to the power of the sword.^c

Let their wives be made childless and widows;^d

let their men be put to death,

their young men^e slain by the sword in battle.

²²Let a cry^f be heard from their houses

when you suddenly bring invaders against them,

for they have dug a pit^g to capture me

and have hidden snares^h for my feet.

²³But you, Lord, know

all their plots to killⁱ me.

Do not forgive^j their crimes

or blot out their sins from your sight.

Let them be overthrown before you;

deal with them in the time of your anger.^k