1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:
2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”
3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, doing work at the wheels.
4And the vessel that he was making from the clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed right in the potter’s eyes to make.
5Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
6“Can I not do to you as this potter does, O house of Israel?” declares Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
7At one moment I may speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to tear down and to destroy;
8but if that nation turns from its evil, concerning which I spoke, then I will relent of the disaster that I planned to do to it.
9And in a moment I may speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant;
10but if it does what is evil in my eyes, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I said I would do to benefit it.
11Now therefore, say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says Yahweh: Look, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each one, from his evil way, and make your ways and your deeds good.
12But they will say, ‘It is hopeless! For we will go after our own plans, and each will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask now among the nations — who has heard the like of these things? A most horrible thing the virgin Israel has done.
14Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open field? Or are the strange, cold, flowing waters torn away?
15For my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to what is worthless. They have made them stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, on a road not built up.
16making their land a desolation, an object of everlasting hissing; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and shake his head.
17Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; I will show them my back and not my face on the day of their calamity.
18Then they said, “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor a word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”
19Pay attention to me, O Yahweh, and listen to the voice of my adversaries!
20Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.
21Therefore give their children over to famine, and hand them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become bereaved and widowed, and let their men be slain by death, their young men struck by the sword in battle.
22Let an outcry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring a raiding band against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden snares for my feet.
23But you, O Yahweh, know all their plotting against me, for death. Do not atone for their iniquity, and do not blot out their sin from before you. Let them be made to stumble before you; in the time of your anger, deal with them.
Open in the interactive reader →