Jeremiah 18:1-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”(A) 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.(B) 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.(C) 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,(D) 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.(E) 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.(F)
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Jeremiah 18:15-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 But my people have forgotten me;
they burn offerings to a delusion;
they have stumbled[a] in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and have gone into bypaths,
not the highway,(A)
16 making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at forever.
All who pass by it are horrified
and shake their heads.(B)
Footnotes
- 18.15 Gk Syr Vg: Heb they made them stumble
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.