Jeremiah 18
18
Jeremiah Goes to the Pottery Shop
1The Lord told me, 2“Jeremiah, 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 as we please!”
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 passerby
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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Jeremiah 18: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 18
18
The Potter and the Clay
1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6“O house of Israel, #Is. 45:9; Rom. 9:20, 21can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, #Is. 64:8as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to #Jer. 1:10pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8#Jer. 7:3–7; 12:16; (Ezek. 18:21; 33:11)if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, #(Ps. 106:45); Jer. 26:3; (Hos. 11:8; Joel 2:13); Jon. 3:10I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
11“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. #2 Kin. 17:13; Is. 1:16–19; Jer. 4:1; Acts 26:20Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings #Jer. 7:3–7good.” ’ ”
God’s Warning Rejected
12And they said, #Is. 57:10; Jer. 2:25“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the #Jer. 3:17; 23:17dictates of his evil heart.”
13Therefore thus says the Lord:
#Is. 66:8; Jer. 2:10, 11; 1 Cor. 5:1“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done #Jer. 5:30; Hos. 6:10a very horrible thing.
14Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15“Because My people have forgotten #Jer. 2:13, 32Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the #Jer. 6:16ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16To make their land #Jer. 19:8desolate and a perpetual #1 Kin. 9:8; Lam. 2:15; Mic. 6:16hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17#Jer. 13:24I will scatter them #Ps. 48:7as with an east wind before the enemy;
#Jer. 2:27I will show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah Persecuted
18Then they said, #Jer. 11:19“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; #Lev. 10:11; Mal. 2:7; (John 7:48)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20#Ps. 109:4Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have #Ps. 35:7; 57:6; Jer. 5:26dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I #Jer. 14:7—15:1stood before You
To speak good for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
21Therefore #Ps. 109:9–20; Jer. 11:22; 14:16deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And #Jer. 15:7, 8; Ezek. 22:25bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
23Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
#Neh. 4:5; Ps. 35:14; 109:14; Is. 2:9; Jer. 11:20Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your #Jer. 7:20anger.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.