Jeremiah 18
18
The Potter’s Vessel.#The lesson of the potter is that God has the power to destroy or restore, changing his plans accordingly as these nations disobey him or fulfill his will. Cf. Jon 3:10. 1This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2Arise and go down to the potter’s house; there you will hear my word. 3I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. 4Whenever the vessel of clay he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making another vessel of whatever sort he pleased.#Rom 9:20–21. 5Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the Lord. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.#Wis 15:7; Is 45:9. 7#Jer 1:10. At one moment I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will uproot and tear down and destroy it; 8but if that nation against whom I have decreed turns from its evil, then I will have a change of heart regarding the evil which I have decreed.#Jer 26:3; Is 55:7; Ez 18:21, 27; Jon 3:10. 9At another moment, I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will build up and plant it; 10but if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, then I will have a change of heart regarding the good with which I planned to bless it.#Nm 14:22–23.
11And now, tell this to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, all of you, from your evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.#Jer 7:3; 25:5; 35:15. 12But they will say, “No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of our evil hearts!”#Jer 2:25; 7:24.
Unnatural Apostasy
13Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations—
who has ever heard the like?
Truly horrible things
virgin Israel has done!#Jer 2:10–11; 5:30.
14Does the snow of Lebanon#Lebanon: here apparently including Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped peak can be seen from parts of Palestine all year round. The prophet contrasts the certainties of nature with Israel’s unnatural desertion of the Lord for idols (v. 15).
desert the rocky heights?
Do the gushing waters dry up
that flow fresh down the mountains?
15Yet my people have forgotten me:
they offer incense in vain.
They stumble off their paths,
the ways of old,
Traveling on bypaths,
not the beaten track.#Jer 2:13, 32.
16Their land shall be made a waste,
an object of endless hissing:#Hissing: in some ancient Near Eastern cultures hissing was not only a sign of derision but a magical means of keeping demons away; people hissed in order to ward off danger, like whistling in a cemetery.
All passersby will be horrified,
shaking their heads.#Jer 19:8; Lv 26:32; 1 Kgs 9:8.
17Like the east wind, I will scatter them
before their enemies;
I will show them my back, not my face,
in their day of disaster.#Prv 1:24–31.
Another Prayer for Vengeance. 18“Come,” they said, “let us devise a plot against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priests, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. Come, let us destroy him by his own tongue. Let us pay careful attention to his every word.”#Jer 11:19; Ps 35:15–16.
19Pay attention to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my adversaries say.
20Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak on their behalf,
to turn your wrath away from them.#Ps 35:12.
21So now, give their children#Give their children: often an extended family is meant, to be rewarded or punished as a unit. to famine,#Ps 109:9–10.
deliver them to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be childless and widows;
let their husbands die of pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22May cries be heard from their homes,
when suddenly you send plunderers against them.
For they have dug a pit to capture me,
they have hidden snares for my feet;
23But you, Lord, know
all their planning for my death.
Do not forgive their crime,
and their sin do not blot out from your sight!
Let them stumble before you,
in the time of your anger act against them.#Neh 4:5; Ps 35:4; 37:32–33.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Jeremiah 18
18
The Potter and the Clay
1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“Stand up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3So I went down to the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter’s wheels. 4And the vessel that he was making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he made again#Literally “he turned back and he made it” another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.
5And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,#Literally “to say” 6“Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation 8But if that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. 9And the next moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant it.#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation 10But if it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do to it.
11“So now then, say, please, to the people#Literally “man” of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am preparing evil against you, and I am planning a plan against you. Please turn back, each one from his evil way, and walk rightly in your ways and your deeds.” ’ 12But they will say, ‘It is hopeless, for we will go after our own plans, and each one of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13“Therefore thus says Yahweh,
‘Please ask among the nations, “Who has heard the like of this?”#Literally “like these”
The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.
14Does the snow of Lebanon leave from the crags#Hebrew “crag” of Sirion?
Or are the cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?
15But my people have forgotten me.
They make smoke offerings to the idols,#Hebrew “idol”
and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways,
to go into bypaths,#Literally “paths of way” not one that is built up.
16To make their land a horror,
an object of whistling for eternity.
All who pass by it will be appalled,
and he will shake his head.
17Like the wind from the east
I will scatter them before#Literally “to the face of” the enemy.
I will show them my back and not my face
in the day of their disaster.’ ”
Jeremiah’s Imprecatory Prayer
18Then they said, “Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from the priest, nor advice from the wise man, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us bring charges against him,#Literally “let us strike him with the tongue” and let us not listen attentively to any of his words.”
19Listen attentively to me, O Yahweh,
and listen to the voice of my opponents.
20Should good be repaid in place of evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember my standing before you#Literally “to the face of you” to speak good for them,
to avert your wrath from them.
21Therefore#Literally “To thus” give their children to the famine,
and hand them over to the power#Literally “hand” of the sword,
and let their wives be bereaved and widows,
and let their men be killed by death,
their young men struck dead
by the sword in the battle.
22Let a cry for help be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring upon them the raiding band,
for they have dug a pit to catch me,
and they have fixed secretly a trap for my feet.
23But you, O Yahweh, you know
all their plans of assassination against me.#Literally “all of their plan against me to the death”
You must not make atonement for their iniquity,
and you must not cause their sin to be blotted out from before you.#Literally “to the face of you”
But let them be overthrown before you.#Literally “to the face of you”
Deal with them in the time of your anger.
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