Chapter 18

The Potter and the Clay

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,

2 “Arise and ago down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the 1wheel.

4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,

6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the aclay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to auproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;

8 aif that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will 1brelent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

9 “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to abuild up or to plant it;

10 if it does aevil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will 1bthink better of the good with which I had promised to 2bless it.

11 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am afashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and 1reform your ways and your deeds.” ’

12 “But athey will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the bstubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 “Therefore thus says the Lord,

‘aAsk now among the nations,

Who ever heard the like of 1this?

The bvirgin of Israel

Has done a most cappalling thing.

14 ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?

Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?

15 ‘For aMy people have forgotten Me,

bThey burn incense 1to worthless gods

And they 2have stumbled 3from their ways,

3From the cancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a dhighway,

16 To make their land a adesolation,

An object of perpetual bhissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished

And cshake his head.

17 ‘Like an aeast wind I will bscatter them

Before the enemy;

I will 1show them cMy back and not My face

dIn the day of their calamity.’ ”

18 Then they said, “Come and let us adevise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the blaw is not going to be lost to the priest, nor ccounsel to the sage, nor the divine dword to the prophet! Come on and let us estrike at him with our tongue, and let us fgive no heed to any of his words.”

19 Do give heed to me, O Lord,

And listen to 1what my opponents are saying!

20 aShould good be repaid with evil?

For they have bdug a pit for 1me.

Remember how I cstood before You

To speak good on their behalf,

So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

21 Therefore, agive their children over to famine

And deliver them up to the 1power of the sword;

And let their wives become bchildless and cwidowed.

Let their men also be smitten to death,

Their dyoung men struck down by the sword in battle.

22 May an aoutcry be heard from their houses,

When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;

bFor they have dug a pit to capture me

And chidden snares for my feet.

23 Yet You, O Lord, know

All their 1deadly designs against me;

aDo not 2forgive their iniquity

Or blot out their sin from Your sight.

But may they be 3boverthrown before You;

Deal with them in the ctime of Your anger!