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Jeremiah 18:1-17
The Voice
Jeremiah 18:1-17
The Voice
18 The word of the Eternal came to Jeremiah.
Now God’s message comes through another prophetic drama played out in a potter’s shop somewhere in the city. The prophet sees an ordinary event but receives an extraordinary message.
Eternal One: 2 Go down to the potter’s shop in the city, and wait for My word.
3 So I went down to the potter’s shop and found him making something on his wheel. 4 And as I watched, the clay vessel in his hands became flawed and unusable. So the potter started again with the same clay. He crushed and squeezed and shaped it into another vessel that was to his liking. 5 In that moment, I heard again God’s word for His rebellious people.
Eternal One: 6 O people of Israel, can I not do the same to you as this potter has done? You are like clay in My hands—I will mold you as I see fit. 7 If I declare that I am going to uproot, stamp out, or destroy a nation or kingdom because of its wicked ways, and 8 then that same nation I warned turns away from its evil, then I will change My plans. In My compassion, I will not destroy it. 9 If at some other time I declare that I am going to build up and establish a nation, 10 but then it ignores My voice, thus committing evil right in front of Me, I will hold back the good I had planned for them.
(to Jeremiah) 11 Now, prophet, say to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem these words from the Eternal: “Look! I am planning and shaping disaster against you. Like clay on a wheel, I will shape you and your destiny. Turn back from your evil ways—all of you—before it is too late. Do what is right and good.” 12 But they will tell you, “It’s no use trying to persuade us. We have our own thoughts about how we should live, and each of us is firmly committed to our own way, evil or not.”
13 Who has heard of such betrayal as this? Ask the nations around you.
Even they won’t believe this dreadful thing the virgin Israel has done to Me.
14 Does the snow ever melt on the peaks of Lebanon’s mountains?
Does the cool water of those mountain streams ever run dry?[a]
15 They have forgotten Me. Instead, My people offer incense to worthless gods,
worshiping them as though they are real.
They have lost their way, stumbling from the ancient path of blessing.
Now they walk in the ruts of rebellion instead of taking the high road of obedience.
16 Because of their forgetfulness, their homeland will become a wasteland;
those who pass by will hiss and whistle;
Disturbed at the sight of this eerie desolation,
they will shake their heads in horror.
17 As the strong east wind off the desert scatters the dust,
so I will scatter My people before their enemies.
Just as they turned from Me, now I will turn from them.
I will not even look their way on the day of their disaster.
Footnotes
- 18:14 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Jeremiah 18:1-17
New International Version
Jeremiah 18:1-17
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.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But 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.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He 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. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,(C) torn down and destroyed, 8 and 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. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built(F) up and planted, 10 and 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) 12 But 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)’”
13 Therefore 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.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?[a]
15 Yet 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)
16 Their 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)
17 Like 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.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
The Voice (VOICE)
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