Jeremiah 18
18
God the potter
1Jeremiah received the LORD’s word: 2Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5Then the LORD’s word came to me: 6House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the LORD? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! 7At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom; 8but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I’ll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it. 9At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom; 10but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I’ll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it. 11Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I’m working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions. 12But they said, “What’s the use! We will follow our own plans and act according to our own willful, evil hearts.”
13Therefore, the LORD proclaims:
Ask among the nations:
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Virgin Israel has done
the most horrible thing.
14Does the snow on the mountains of Lebanon ever melt entirely
off their rocky cliffs?
Do the cool mountain streams ever dry up?#18.14 Heb uncertain; or be dug up
15Yet my people have forgotten me;
they have offered sacrifices to a lie.
And so they have stumbled along the way,
even along the ancient paths.
They have taken side roads,
not the main roads.#18.15 Heb uncertain
16They have ruined their country
and brought utter shame on it.
All who pass by are shocked
and shake their heads.
17Like a strong east wind,
I will scatter them before their enemy.
When disaster strikes them,
I will show them my back,
not my face.
18Then they said, “Come, let’s unite against Jeremiah, for the priest’s instruction won’t fail, nor will the sage’s counsel, nor the prophet’s word. Come, let’s silence him and pay no attention to his words.”
19Pay attention to me, LORD;
listen to what my enemies are saying.
20Should evil be returned for good?
Yet they have set traps for me.
Remember that I stood before you,
begging you to be merciful
and not to punish them.
21Enough! Let their children starve;
let them die by the sword.
Let their wives be barren widows;
let their men be slaughtered
and their youth struck down in battle.
22Let screams be heard from their homes
when you suddenly bring armies against them.
They have dug a pit to capture me,
set traps for my feet.
23But you, LORD, you know
all their sinister plots to kill me.
Don’t overlook their wrongdoing;
don’t cleanse their sin from before you.
May they stumble before you;
when you become angry, do something about them.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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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