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.”

Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur

20 Now ^(CA)Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(CB)Immer, who was ^(CC)chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ² Then ^(CD)Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him ^(CE)in the stocks that were in the upper ^(CF)Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. ³ The next day, when ^(CG)Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name ^(CH)Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴ For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you ^(CI)a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. ⁵ Moreover, ^(CJ)I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its ^(CK)prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, ^(CL)Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, ^(CM)to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

The Lord Reigns

The High Priestly Prayer

17 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, ^(B)the hour has come; ^(C)glorify your Son that the Son may ^(D)glorify you, ² since ^(E)you have given him authority over all flesh, ^(F)to give eternal life to all ^(G)whom you have given him. ^3 (H)And this is eternal life, ^(I)that they know you, ^(J)the only ^(K)true God, and ^(L)Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I ^(M)glorified you on earth, ^(N)having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, ^(O)glorify me in your own presence with the glory ^(P)that I had with you ^(Q)before the world existed.

^6 (R)“I have manifested your name to the people ^(S)whom you gave me out of the world. ^(T)Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything ^(U)that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them ^(V)the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that ^(W)I came from you; and ^(X)they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. ^(Y)I am not praying for the world but for those ^(Z)whom you have given me, for ^(AA)they are yours. ^10 (AB)All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and ^(AC)I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but ^(AD)they are in the world, and ^(AE)I am coming to you. ^(AF)Holy Father, ^(AG)keep them in your name, ^(AH)which you have given me, ^(AI)that they may be one, ^(AJ)even as we are one. ^12 (AK)While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have ^(AL)guarded them, and ^(AM)not one of them has been lost except ^(AN)the son of destruction, ^(AO)that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now ^(AP)I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have ^(AQ)my joy fulfilled in themselves. ^14 (AR)I have given them your word, and ^(AS)the world has hated them ^(AT)because they are not of the world, ^(AU)just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I ^(AV)do not ask that you ^(AW)take them out of the world, but that you ^(AX)keep them from ^(AY)the evil one.^{[a] 16 (AZ)}They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ^17 (BA)Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; ^(BB)your word is truth. ^18 (BC)As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And ^(BD)for their sake ^(BE)I consecrate myself,^[c] that they also ^(BF)may be sanctified^[d] in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ^(BG)ask for these only, but also for those ^(BH)who will believe in me through their word, ^21 (BI)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that ^(BJ)they also may be in ^(BK)us, so that the world ^(BL)may believe that you have sent me. ^22 (BM)The glory that you have given me ^(BN)I have given to them, ^(BO)that they may be one even as we are one, ^23 (BP)I in them and you in me, ^(BQ)that they may become perfectly one, ^(BR)so that the world may know that you sent me and ^(BS)loved them even as ^(BT)you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be ^(BU)with me ^(BV)where I am, ^(BW)to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me ^(BX)before the foundation of the world. ^25 (BY)O righteous Father, even though ^(BZ)the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ^26 (CA)I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love ^(CB)with which you have loved me may be in them, and ^(CC)I in them.”