Jeremiah 18
18
At the potter’s house
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But 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.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11‘Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord says: look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.” 12But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.” ’
13Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Enquire among the nations:
who has ever heard anything like this?
A most horrible thing has been done
by Virgin Israel.
14Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?#18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
15Yet my people have forgotten me;
they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient paths.
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.
16Their land will be an object of horror
and of lasting scorn;
all who pass by will be appalled
and will shake their heads.
17Like a wind from the east,
I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face
in the day of their disaster.’
18They said, ‘Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.’
19Listen to me, Lord;
hear what my accusers are saying!
20Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you
and spoke on their behalf
to turn your wrath away from them.
21So give their children over to famine;
hand them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be made childless and widows;
let their men be put to death,
their young men slain by the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.
23But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill me.
Do not forgive their crimes
or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.
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Jeremiah 18: NIVUK
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®
Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
Jeremiah 18
18
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 "Rise up and descend into the house of the potter, and there you will hear my words."
3 And I descended into the house of the potter, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel.
4 And the vessel, which he was making with his hands out of clay, broke. And turning away, he made another vessel, for it had been pleasing in his eyes to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6 "Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done, says the Lord? Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7 Suddenly, I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, so that I may uproot, and destroy, and scatter it.
8 If that nation, against which I have spoken, will repent from their evil, I too will repent from the evil that I have decided I would do to them.
9 And soon, I will speak about a nation and about a kingdom, so that I may build and plant it.
10 If it does evil in my sight, so as not to listen to my voice, I will repent of the good that I have said I would do to it.
11 Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am forming an evil against you, and I am considering a plan against you. Let each one of you return from his evil way, and direct your ways and your intentions well."
12 And they said: "We have lost hope. And so we will follow our own thoughts, and each of us will act according to the depravity of his own evil heart."
13 For this reason, thus says the Lord: "Inquire among the Gentiles. Who has heard of such horrible things as the virgin of Israel has done to excess?
14 Do the snows of Lebanon fail to fall on the rocks of the field? Or are the cold waters, which burst forth and flow down, able to be rooted out?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me, offering useless libations, and stumbling in their ways, in the paths of the world, so that they walk by these on an unmarked route.
16 And so their land has been given over to desolation and to perpetual hissing. Each one who passes by will be astonished and will shake his head.
17 Like a burning wind, I will disperse them in the sight the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition."
18 And they said: "Come, and let us devise a plan against Jeremiah. For the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor a sermon from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us pay no attention to any of his words."
19 Attend to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
20 Should evil be rendered for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul! Remember that I have stood in your sight, so as to speak on their behalf for good, and to avert your indignation from them.
21 Because of this, give their sons over to famine, and bring them to the hand of the sword. Let their wives be widows without children. And let their husbands be slain by death. Let their youths be stabbed with the sword in battle.
22 Let an outcry be heard from their houses. For you will lead the robber upon them suddenly. For they have dug a pit, so that they may seize me, and they have hidden snares for my feet.
23 But you, O Lord, know all their plans against me unto death. May you not forgive their iniquity, and do not allow their sin be taken away from your face. Let them be thrown down in your sight, in the time of your fury, so that you may destroy them.
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