Jeremiah 18
18
Jeremiah goes to the pottery shop
1The LORD told me, 2“Go to the pottery shop, and when you get there, I will tell you what to say to the people.”
3I went there and saw the potter making clay pots on his pottery wheel. 4And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted, he would change his mind and form it into some other shape.
5Then the LORD told me to say:
6People of Israel, I, the LORD, have power over you, just as a potter has power over clay. 7If I threaten to uproot and shatter an evil nation 8and that nation turns from its evil, I will change my mind.
9If I promise to make a nation strong, 10but its people start disobeying me and doing evil, then I will change my mind and not help them at all.
11So listen to me, people of Judah and Jerusalem! I have decided to strike you with disaster, and I won't change my mind unless you stop sinning and start living right.
12But I know you won't listen. You might as well answer, “We don't care what you say. We have made plans to sin, and we are going to be stubborn and do what we want!”
13So I, the LORD, command you to ask the nations, and find out if they have ever heard of such a horrible sin as what you have done.
14The snow
on Lebanon's mountains
never melts away,
and the streams there
never run dry.#18.14 dry: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
15But you, my people,
have turned from me
to burn incense
to worthless idols.
You have left the ancient road
to follow an unknown path
where you stumble over idols.
16Your land will be ruined,
and every passer-by
will look at it with horror
and make insulting remarks.
17When your enemies attack,
I will scatter you like dust
blown by an eastern wind.
Then, on that day of disaster,
I will turn my back on you.
The plot against Jeremiah
18Some of the people said, “Let's get rid of Jeremiah! We will always have priests to teach us God's laws, as well as wise people to give us advice, and prophets to speak the LORD's messages. So, instead of listening to Jeremiah any longer, let's accuse him of a crime.”
Jeremiah prays about his enemies
19Please, LORD, answer my prayer.
Make my enemies stop
accusing me of evil.
20I tried to help them,
but they are paying me back
by digging a pit to trap me.
I even begged you
not to punish them.
21But now I am asking you
to let their children starve
or be killed in war.
Let women lose
their husbands and sons
to disease and violence.
22These people have dug pits
and set traps for me, LORD.
Make them scream in fear
when you send enemy troops
to attack their homes.
23You know they plan to kill me.
So get angry and punish them!
Don't ever forgive
their terrible crimes.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 18
18
1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, saying,
2“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I let you hear My words.”
3So I went down to the potter’s house, and saw him doing a piece of work on the wheel.
4And the vessel that he made of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
5Then the word of יהוה came to me, saying,
6“O house of Yisra’ĕl, am I not able to do with you as this potter?” declares יהוה. “Look, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Yisra’ĕl!
7“The moment I speak concerning a nation and concerning a reign, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8and that nation shall turn from its evil because I have spoken against it, then I shall repent of the evil that I thought to do to it.
9“And the moment I speak concerning a nation and concerning a reign, to build and to plant it,
10and it shall do evil in My eyes in not obeying My voice, then I shall repent concerning the good with which I spoke of doing to it.
11“And now, speak to the men of Yehuḏah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה, “See, I am forming evil and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your deeds good.” ’ ”
12But they shall say, “It is no use! For we walk according to our own plans, and we do each one the stubbornness of his evil heart.”#See Jer. 7:24; Jer. 16:12; Jer. 17:9; Jer. 23:17
13Therefore thus said יהוה, “Ask now among the nations, who has heard the like of this? The maiden of Yisra’ĕl has done what is most horrible.
14“Does the snow of Leḇanon cease from the rock of the field? Or the cool flowing waters from afar dry up?
15“But My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to what is false, and they have stumbled from their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths and not on a highway,
16to make their land become a ruin, a hissing forever – everyone who passes by it is appalled and shakes his head.
17“I shall scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I shall show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity.”
18Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Yirmeyahu, for the Torah 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 listen to any of his words.”
19Attend to me, O יהוה, and listen to the voice of my adversaries!
20Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21So give their children over to scarcity of food, and hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become widows and bereaved of their children. Let their men be killed to death, their young men be stricken by the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You bring a raiding party suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and laid snares for my feet.
23But You, O יהוה, You know all their counsel against me, to slay me. Do not pardon their crookedness, nor blot out their sin from Your presence, and let them be overthrown before You. Deal with them in the time of Your displeasure.
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