Jeremiah 18:1-18

English Standard Version

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Arise, and go down to ^(A)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear^[a] my words.” ³So I went down to ^(B)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was ^(C)spoiled in the potter's hand, and ^(D)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(E)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^(F)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^(G)pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^(H)turns from its evil, ^(I)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^(J)build and plant it, ¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^(K)Return, every one from his evil way, and ^(L)amend your ways and your deeds.’

¹²“But they say, ^(M)‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^(N)the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(O)Ask among the nations,
    Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
    has done ^(P)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave
    the crags of Sirion?^[b]
Do the mountain waters run dry,^[c]
    the cold flowing streams?
¹⁵^(Q)But my people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to ^(R)false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    ^(S)in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    ^(T)not the highway,
¹⁶making their land ^(U)a horror,
    a thing ^(V)to be hissed at forever.
^(W)Everyone who passes by it is horrified
    ^(X)and shakes his head.
¹⁷^(Y)Like the east wind ^(Z)I will scatter them
    before the enemy.
^(AA)I will show them my back, not my face,
    in the day of their calamity.”

¹⁸Then they said, ^(AB)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(AC)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(AD)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

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