The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Arise, and go down to ^(A)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear^[a] my words.” ³ So I went down to ^(B)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ And the vessel he was making of clay was ^(C)spoiled in the potter's hand, and ^(D)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ “O house of Israel, ^(E)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^(F)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^(G)pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^(H)turns from its evil, ^(I)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹ And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^(J)build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^(K)Return, every one from his evil way, and ^(L)amend your ways and your deeds.’

¹² “But they say, ^(M)‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^(N)the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹⁸ Then they said, ^(AB)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(AC)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(AD)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

The Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^(AP)a potter's earthenware ^(AQ)flask, and take some of ^(AR)the elders of the people and some of ^(AS)the elders of the priests, ² and go out ^(AT)to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³ You shall say, ^(AU)‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^(AV)O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ^(AW)the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ^4 (AX)Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^(AY)and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ^5 (AZ)and have built the high places of Baal ^(BA)to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^(BB)which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶ therefore, ^(BC)behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^(BD)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And in this place ^(BE)I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^(BF)and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^(BG)I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city ^(BH)a horror, ^(BI)a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. ^9 (BJ)And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^(BK)in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

¹⁰ “Then ^(BL)you shall break ^(BM)the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹ and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^(BN)as one breaks a potter's vessel, ^(BO)so that it can never be mended. ^(BP)Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹² Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^(BQ)like Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^(BR)all the houses on whose ^(BS)roofs offerings have been offered ^(BT)to all the host of heaven, and ^(BU)drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^(BV)like the place of Topheth.’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from ^(BW)Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^(BX)and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: ¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^(BY)because they have stiffened their neck, ^(BZ)refusing to hear my words.”

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and ^(A)sin which clings so closely, and ^(B)let us run ^(C)with endurance the race that is ^(D)set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, ^(E)who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising ^(F)the shame, and ^(G)is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do Not Grow Weary

^3 (H)Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or ^(I)fainthearted. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. ^(M)God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ If you are left without discipline, ^(N)in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to ^(O)the Father of spirits ^(P)and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, ^(Q)that we may share his holiness. ^11 (R)For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields ^(S)the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore ^(T)lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and ^(U)make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint ^(V)but rather be healed. ^14 (W)Strive for peace with everyone, and for the ^(X)holiness ^(Y)without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(Z)fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ^(AA)“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is ^(AB)sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that ^(AC)afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

¹⁸ For you have not come to ^(AD)what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and ^(AE)the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words ^(AF)made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, ^(AG)“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ Indeed, ^(AH)so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²² But you have come to ^(AI)Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^(AJ)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(AK)innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to ^(AL)the assembly^[a] of the firstborn who are ^(AM)enrolled in heaven, and to ^(AN)God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, ^(AO)the mediator of a new covenant, and to ^(AP)the sprinkled blood ^(AQ)that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For ^(AR)if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ At that time ^(AS)his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ^(AT)“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates ^(AU)the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ^(AV)a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus ^(AW)let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our ^(AX)God is a consuming fire.