Jeremiah 18

Revised Geneva Translation

18 The Word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² “Arise, and go down into the potter’s house, and there shall I show you My Words.”

³ Then I went down to the potter’s house. And behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of clay was broken in the hand of the potter. So he returned and made it another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.

⁵ Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁶ “O House of Israel! Cannot I do with you as this potter,” says the LORD? “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so you are in My Hand, O House of Israel.

⁷ “I will speak suddenly against a nation, or against a kingdom, to pluck it up and to root it out and to destroy it.

⁸ “But if this nation against whom I have pronounced turns from their wickedness, I will turn from the plague that I had thought to bring upon them.

⁹ “And I will speak suddenly concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it.

¹⁰ “But if it does evil in My sight, and does not hear My Voice, I will turn from the good that I had thought to do for them.

¹¹ “Speak now, therefore, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I prepare a plague for you, and plan something against you. Therefore, every one of you return from his evil way, and make your ways and your works good.”

¹² ‘But they said desperately, “Surely we will walk after our own imaginations. And every man will follow the stubbornness of his wicked heart.”

¹³ ‘Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Ask now who has heard such things among the heathen. The virgin of Israel has done very filthily.

¹⁴ “Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon, which comes from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold, flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

¹⁵ “Because My people have forgotten Me and have burnt incense to worthless idols, causing them to stumble in their ways from the ancient ways and to walk in the pathway that is not built up,

¹⁶ “and making their land desolate and a perpetual derision, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and wag his head.

¹⁷ “I will scatter them with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them My Back, and not My Face, in the day of their destruction.”

¹⁸ ‘Then they said, “Come, and let us imagine some device against Jeremiah! For the Law shall not perish from the Priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the Word from the Prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue! And let us not consider any of his words!”’”

¹⁹ Listen to me, O LORD, and hear the voice of those who contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You, to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore, deliver up their children to famine, and let them drop away by the force of the sword. Let their wives be robbed of their children and be widows. And let their husbands be put to death. Let their young men be killed by the sword in the battle.

²² Let the cry be heard from their houses when You shall suddenly bring an army upon them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and hidden snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, LORD, You know all their deadly counsel against me. Do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Your sight. But let them be overthrown before You. Deal with them in the time of Your anger!