Jeremiah 18:1-19:11
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 “Arise and (A)go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the [a]wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the (B)clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to (C)uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 (D)if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will [b](E)relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9 Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to (F)build up or to plant it; 10 if it does (G)evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will [c](H)think better of the good with which I had promised to [d]bless it. 11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am (I)fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh (J)turn back, each of you from his evil way, and [e]reform your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 But (K)they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the (L)stubbornness of his evil heart.’
13 “Therefore thus says the Lord,
‘(M)Ask now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of [f]this?
The (N)virgin of Israel
Has done a most (O)appalling thing.
14 ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?
15 ‘For (P)My people have forgotten Me,
(Q)They burn incense [g]to worthless gods
And they [h]have stumbled [i]from their ways,
[j]From the (R)ancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a (S)highway,
16 To make their land a (T)desolation,
An object of perpetual (U)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And (V)shake his head.
17 ‘Like an (W)east wind I will (X)scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will [k]show them (Y)My back and not My face
(Z)In the day of their calamity.’”
18 Then they said, “Come and let us (AA)devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the (AB)law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor (AC)counsel to the sage, nor the divine (AD)word to the prophet! Come on and let us (AE)strike at him with our tongue, and let us (AF)give no heed to any of his words.”
19 Do give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to [l]what my opponents are saying!
20 (AG)Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have (AH)dug a pit for [m]me.
Remember how I (AI)stood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, (AJ)give their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the [n]power of the sword;
And let their wives become (AK)childless and (AL)widowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their (AM)young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May an (AN)outcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
(AO)For they have dug a pit to capture me
And (AP)hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet You, O Lord, know
All their [o]deadly designs against me;
(AQ)Do not [p]forgive their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be [q](AR)overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the (AS)time of Your anger!
The Broken Jar
19 Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a (AT)potter’s earthenware (AU)jar, and take some of the (AV)elders of the people and some of the [r](AW)senior priests. 2 Then go out to the (AX)valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and (AY)proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O (AZ)kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a (BA)calamity upon this place, at which the (BB)ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4 Because they have (BC)forsaken Me and have (BD)made this an alien place and have burned [s]sacrifices in it to (BE)other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the (BF)blood of the innocent 5 and have built the (BG)high places of Baal to burn their (BH)sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My [t]mind; 6 therefore, behold, (BI)days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called (BJ)Topheth or (BK)the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7 I will (BL)make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and (BM)I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their (BN)carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8 I will also make this city a (BO)desolation and an object of hissing; (BP)everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its [u]disasters. 9 I will make them (BQ)eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’
10 “Then you are to break the (BR)jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I (BS)break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will (BT)bury in Topheth [v]because there is no other place for burial.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:3 Lit pair of stone discs
- Jeremiah 18:8 Lit repent of
- Jeremiah 18:10 Lit repent
- Jeremiah 18:10 Lit do it good
- Jeremiah 18:11 Lit make good
- Jeremiah 18:13 Lit these
- Jeremiah 18:15 Lit to worthlessness
- Jeremiah 18:15 So ancient versions; Heb caused them to
- Jeremiah 18:15 Or in
- Jeremiah 18:15 Or in
- Jeremiah 18:17 So ancient versions; M.T. reads look them in the back and not in the face
- Jeremiah 18:19 Lit the voice of my opponents
- Jeremiah 18:20 Lit my soul
- Jeremiah 18:21 Lit hands of
- Jeremiah 18:23 Lit unto death
- Jeremiah 18:23 Lit cover over, atone for
- Jeremiah 18:23 Lit ones made to stumble
- Jeremiah 19:1 Or elders of
- Jeremiah 19:4 Or incense
- Jeremiah 19:5 Lit heart
- Jeremiah 19:8 Lit blows
- Jeremiah 19:11 Or until there is no place left to bury
Romans 9:21
New American Standard Bible 1995
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel [a]for honorable use and another [b]for common use?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 9:21 Lit for honor
- Romans 9:21 Lit for dishonor
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
