19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(A) Take along some of the elders^(B) of the people and of the priests

¹¹ In front of them stood seventy elders^(A) of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer^(B) in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense^(C) was rising.^(D)

¹² He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness,^(E) each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see^(F) us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’”

² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ 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.

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders^(A) who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.^(B) Have them come to the tent of meeting,^(C) that they may stand there with you.

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay^(A) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God^(B) and not from us.

¹⁰ “Then break the jar^(A) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(B) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(C) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

⁴ A larger number of leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than among Ithamar’s, and they were divided accordingly: sixteen heads of families from Eleazar’s descendants and eight heads of families from Ithamar’s descendants. ⁵ They divided them impartially by casting lots,^(A) for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar.

⁶ The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded their names in the presence of the king and of the officials: Zadok the priest, Ahimelek^(B) son of Abiathar and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites—one family being taken from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar.