18 *The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to athe potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the ||bwheels. 4 And the vessel ||that he made of clay cwas marred in the hand of the potter: so he †made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, dcannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, eas the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak fconcerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, gturn from their evil, hI will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: ireturn ye now every one from his evil way, and kmake your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, lThere is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do mthe imagination of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; nAsk ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done oa very horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave ||the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place pbe forsaken? 15 Because qmy people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to rvanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the sancient tpaths, to walk in paths, in a way not ucast up; 16 To make their land vdesolate, and a perpetual vhissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wwag his head. 17 I xwill scatter them as with yan east wind before the enemy; I will shew them zthe back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18 Then said they, Come, and alet us devise devices against Jeremiah; bfor the law shall not perish cfrom the priest, nor counsel from the wise, bnor the word from the prophet. Come, and dlet us smite him ||with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of ethem that contend with me. 20 fShall evil be recompensed for good? for gthey have digged ha pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore ideliver up their children to the famine, and †pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and ilet their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22 jLet a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for gthey have digged a pit to take me, and khid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me †to slay me: lforgive mnnot their iniquity, nneither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; odeal thus with them in the time of thine anger.