Jeremiah 18 New International Version

At the Potter’s House

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^(B) Israel. ⁷If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^(C) torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^(D) and not inflict on it the disaster^(E) I had planned. ⁹And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^(F) up and planted, ¹⁰and if it does evil^(G) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^(H) the good I had intended to do for it.^(I)

¹¹“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster^(J) for you and devising a plan^(K) against you. So turn^(L) from your evil ways,^(M) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^(N) ¹²But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^(O) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^(P)’”

¹³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:
    Who has ever heard anything like this?^(Q)
A most horrible^(R) thing has been done
    by Virgin^(S) Israel.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon
    ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
    ever stop flowing?^[a]
¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten^(T) me;
    they burn incense^(U) to worthless idols,^(V)
which made them stumble^(W) in their ways,
    in the ancient paths.^(X)
They made them walk in byways,
    on roads not built up.^(Y)
¹⁶Their land will be an object of horror^(Z)
    and of lasting scorn;^(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled^(AB)
    and will shake their heads.^(AC)
¹⁷Like a wind^(AD) from the east,
    I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face^(AE)
    in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸They said, “Come, let’s make plans^(AF) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest^(AG) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,^(AH) nor the word from the prophets.^(AI) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues^(AJ) and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹Listen to me, Lord;
    hear what my accusers^(AK) are saying!
²⁰Should good be repaid with evil?^(AL)
    Yet they have dug a pit^(AM) for me.
Remember that I stood^(AN) before you
    and spoke in their behalf^(AO)
    to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹So give their children over to famine;^(AP)
    hand them over to the power of the sword.^(AQ)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;^(AR)
    let their men be put to death,
    their young men^(AS) slain by the sword in battle.
²²Let a cry^(AT) be heard from their houses
    when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit^(AU) to capture me
    and have hidden snares^(AV) for my feet.
²³But you, Lord, know
    all their plots to kill^(AW) me.
Do not forgive^(AX) their crimes
    or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.^(AY)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.

Cross references

Jeremiah 19 New International Version

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(A) Take along some of the elders^(B) of the people and of the priests ²and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(C) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings^(D) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster^(E) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.^(F) ⁴For they have forsaken^(G) me and made this a place of foreign gods^(H); they have burned incense^(I) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^(J) ⁵They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children^(K) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.^(L) ⁶So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth^(M) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(N) but the Valley of Slaughter.^(O)

⁷“‘In this place I will ruin^[a] the plans^(P) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(Q) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(R) as food^(S) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(T) all who pass by will be appalled^(U) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^(V) ⁹I will make them eat^(W) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(X) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰“Then break the jar^(Y) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(Z) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(AA) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹²This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³The houses^(AB) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled^(AC) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs^(AD) to all the starry hosts^(AE) and poured out drink offerings^(AF) to other gods.’”

¹⁴Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court^(AG) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, ¹⁵“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster^(AH) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked^(AI) and would not listen^(AJ) to my words.’”