Jeremiah 18
18
The People of Israel Are Like Clay for a Potter
1The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, 2“Go to the potter’s house. There I will give you my message.”
3I went to the potter’s house, and he was working there at his wheel. 4Whenever a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it.
5The Lord spoke his word to me. The Lord asked, 6“Nation of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter does with clay? Nation of Israel, you are like the clay in the potter’s hands.
7“At one time I may threaten to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom. 8But suppose the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it.
9“At another time I may promise to build and plant a nation or a kingdom. 10But suppose that nation does what I consider evil and doesn’t obey me. Then I will change my plans about the good that I promised to do to it.
11“Now say to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to prepare a disaster and make plans against you. Turn from your evil ways, change your lives, and do good.’
12“But they will answer, ‘It’s useless! We’ll live the way we want to. We’ll go our own stubborn, evil ways.’
13“This is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations if anyone has ever heard anything like this.
The people of Israel have done a very horrible thing.
14The rocky slopes of Lebanon are never without snow.
The cool mountain streams never dry up.
15But my people have forgotten me.
They burn incense as an offering to worthless idols,
and they stumble along the way, on the ancient path.
They go on side roads and not on major highways.
16Their land will become desolate
and something to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who will pass by it will be stunned and shake his head.
17Like the east wind I will scatter them in front of the enemy.
On the day of their disaster,
I will show them my back, not my face.”
18Then they said, “Let’s plot against Jeremiah, because the teachings of the priests, the advice of wise people, and the word of the prophets won’t disappear. Accuse him! Pay no attention to anything he says.”
19Pay attention to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my accusers say.
20Good should not be paid back with evil.
They dig a pit to take my life.
Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them
in order to turn your anger away from them.
21Now, hand their children over to famine.
Pour out their ⌞blood⌟ by using your sword.
Then their wives will become childless widows.
Their husbands will be put to death.
Their young men will be struck down in battle.
22Make them cry out from their homes
when you suddenly send troops against them,
because they dug a pit to catch me and hid snares for my feet.
23But you, O Lord, know that they plan to kill me.
Don’t forgive their crimes.
Don’t wipe their sins out of your sight.
Make them stumble in your presence.
Deal with them when you get angry.
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Jeremiah 18: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. 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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