The Potter and the Clay

18 This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and I will give you my message there.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the potter’s wheel. 4 He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it. So he used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be.

5 Then the Lord spoke his word to me: 6 “Family of Israel, can’t I do the same thing with you?” says the Lord. “You are in my hands like the clay in the potter’s hands. 7 There may come a time when I will speak about a nation or a kingdom that I will pull up by its roots or that I will pull down to destroy it. 8 But if the people of that nation stop doing the evil they have done, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to bring disaster to them. 9 There may come another time when I will speak about a nation that I will build up and plant. 10 But if I see it doing evil by not obeying me, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to do good for them.

11 “So, say this to the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you. So stop doing evil. Change your ways and do what is right.’ 12 But the people of Judah will answer, ‘It won’t do any good to try! We will continue to do what we want. Each of us will do what his stubborn, evil heart wants!’ ”

13 So this is what the Lord says:

“Ask the people in other nations this question:

‘Have you ever heard anything like this?’

The people of Israel have done a horrible thing.

14  The snow on the mountains of Lebanon

never melts from the rocks.

Its cool, flowing streams

do not dry up.

15  But my people have forgotten me.

They burn incense to worthless idols

and have stumbled in what they do

and in the old ways of their ancestors.

They walk along back roads

and on poor highways.

16  So Judah’s country will become an empty desert.

People will not stop making fun of it.

They will shake their heads as they pass by;

they will be shocked at how the country was destroyed.

17  Like a strong east wind,

I will scatter them before their enemies.

At that awful time they will not see me coming to help them;

they will see me leaving.”

Jeremiah’s Fourth Complaint

18 Then the people said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah. Surely the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost. We will still have the advice from the wise teachers and the words of the prophets. So let’s ruin him by telling lies about him. We won’t pay attention to anything he says.”

19  Lord, listen to me.

Listen to what my accusers are saying!

20  Good should not be paid back with evil,

but they have dug a pit in order to kill me.

Remember that I stood before you

and asked you to do good things for these people

and to turn your anger away from them.

21  So now, let their children starve,

and let their enemies kill them with swords.

Let their wives lose their children and husbands.

Let the men from Judah be put to death

and the young men be killed with swords in battle.

22  Let them cry out in their houses

when you bring an enemy against them suddenly.

Let all this happen, because my enemies have dug

a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for my feet.

23  Lord, you know

about all their plans to kill me.

Don’t forgive their crimes

or erase their sins from your mind.

Make them fall from their places;

punish them while you are angry.