Jeremiah 18:1–17

The Potter and the Clay

18The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ²“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the ¹wheel. ⁴And the vessel that he ²made of clay was ³marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^acan I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, ^bas the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! ⁷The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to ^cpluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ^8dif that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, ^eI will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

¹¹“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. ^fReturn now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings ^ggood.” ’ ”

God’s Warning Rejected

¹²And they said, ^h“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one ⁴obey the ⁱdictates ⁵of his evil heart.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord:

^j“Ask now among the Gentiles,

Who has heard such things?

The virgin of Israel has done ^ka very horrible thing.

¹⁴Will a man ⁶leave the snow water of Lebanon,

Which comes from the rock of the field?

Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?

¹⁵“Because My people have forgotten ^lMe,

They have burned incense to worthless idols.

And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,

From the ^mancient paths,

To walk in pathways and not on a highway,

¹⁶To make their land ⁿdesolate and a perpetual ^ohissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished

And shake his head.

^17pI will scatter them ^qas with an east wind before the enemy;

^rI will ⁷show them the back and not the face

In the day of their calamity.”