Jeremiah 18

At the Potter’s House

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, house of Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^a in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^b house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^c torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^d and not inflict on it the disaster^e I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^f up and planted, and if it does evil^g in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^h the good I had intended to do for it.ⁱ

“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^j for you and devising a plan^k against you. So turn^l from your evil ways,^m each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ⁿ But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^o We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^p’ ”

Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:

Who has ever heard anything like this?^q

A most horrible^r thing has been done

by Virgin^s Israel.

Does the snow of Lebanon

ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

ever cease to flow?

Yet my people have forgotten^t me;

they burn incense^u to worthless idols,^v

which made them stumble^w in their ways,

in the ancient paths.^x

They made them walk in byways,

on roads not built up.^y

Their land will be an object of horror^z

and of lasting scorn;^a

all who pass by will be appalled^b

and will shake their heads.^c

Like a wind^d from the east,

I will scatter them before their enemies;

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

in the day of their disaster.”

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

Listen to me, Lord;

hear what my accusers^k are saying!

Should good be repaid with evil?^l

Yet they have dug a pit^m for me.

Remember that I stoodⁿ before you

and spoke in their behalf^o

to turn your wrath away from them.

So give their children over to famine;^p

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

Let their wives be made childless and widows;^r

let their men be put to death,

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

Let a cry^t be heard from their houses

when you suddenly bring invaders against them,

for they have dug a pit^u to capture me

and have hidden snares^v for my feet.

But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill^w me.

Do not forgive^x 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.^y